Hoosier lore

Our front page last night featured two ideas that we're probably going to hear a lot about in the coming months. The first, in a Kevin Leininger column, is the notion that Barack Obama's election to the presidency will take race off the national table:

Just plain sick:

Bailey was wanted for the abduction and sexual assault of a 29-year-old Amish man that occurred before midnight April 26 near Topeka, about 35 miles northwest of Fort Wayne. He's accused of tackling the victim and taking him at knifepoint to a secluded area, where he attacked the victim.

The victim told investigators that Bailey told him he had been looking for an Amish girl, but the man “would have to do.”

There's saying no to reporters, then there' saying no to the president:

Still being talked about for secretary of state, Indiana Senator Dick Lugar continues to say "no thanks" and would tell Barack Obama that if he calls.

[. . .]

"I feel that I can do the most for my state for my country by serving in the United States Senate," said Indiana's senior senator.

I have absolutely nothing to say about this:

A Lafayette man was arrested today on suspicion of battery after an alleged incident at PUSH.

Jeffrey A. Manny, 46, 7804 E. County Road 700 S., is being held at Tippecanoe County Jail on 2,500 bond after he was arrested by police at approximately 8:30 a.m. Thursday.

The Indianapolis Star should be more careful with its headlines. Indiana did not turn blue on Tuesday. It voted blue, barely: The story gets it better when it says that Barack Obama "eked out a arrow win":

At least 2.7 million Hoosiers cast ballots, according to a conservative, preliminary calculation by The Associated Press, topping Indiana's previous record of 2.5 million voters set in 2004.

[. . .]

Did you ever wonder about your neighbors? What does that scary looking guy do behind closed doors, and why does he keep the lights on all night? Why do so many people come and go from that house on the corner? Do all those kids really live in the house across the street, or are some just visiting?

What about those two women in the house next door? Oh, them -- they're fine. They're sisters. And they're both special-education teachers. That's nice. What good neighbors to have:

Hoosiers, as predicted, did a lot of ticket-splitting yesterday. They gave Barack Obama a razor-thin win over John McCain, then re-elected Mitch Daniels by a comfortable margin. Then there was this, in a race the polls said would be a lot closer:

A small-l libertarian's voting dilemma:

Barr isn't the sort of candidate I'd pull the lever for in any other circumstance. But I don't live in a swing state where voting for the Libertarian is effectively the same as a voting for Obama (who—for me anyway—fails the libertarian lesser-of-two-evils test).

Today's quiz: What do Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Utah, West Virginia, Alaska and Massachusetts have in common?

7 States prohibit the sale of alcohol on state and national Election Days. This restriction is a relic of the Prohibition era when saloons sometimes served as polling stations. The only states that still cling to statewide Election Day sales bans of alcohol at restaurants, bars and package stores . . .

John McCain finally made it to Indiana -- at least to the Indianapolis airport:

McCain spent much of his 20-minute speech attacking Obama's policies, arguing that Obama would raise taxes and increase spending.

"I'm not going to spend $750 billion of your money bailing out Wall Street bankers and brokers who got us into this mess. Senator Obama will," he said.