With Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton apparently running about even here, Indiana is suddenly getting a lot of nationwide attention. If you do a Google blog search of "indiana, obama, clinton," you'll get more than 16,000 hits. A side benefit is that people outside the state might actually learn something about us:
In Lake County, Obama was a household name well before the presidential race.
“The northwest part of our state considers itself part of Chicago,” says Matthew Tully, political columnist for the Indianapolis Star and a Gary native. “They get Chicago TV and read Chicago papers and have been watching Obama grow up as a politician for years now.”
In Marion County, Obama's already well-oiled grass-roots operation will get a boost. Rep. Andre Carson, who just succeeded his late grandmother in a special election, will face off against three credible Democratic challengers, spiking turnout numbers in the hotly contested Democratic primary.
“If he wins huge in the cities, it makes it harder to overcome in other places,” notes Tully.
In other words, Clinton could win the vast majority of counties in the state and still lose. “We have 92 counties, and if he wins the right five, he's OK,” said one Indiana Democratic insider.That's because, contrary to some stereotypes, Indiana's population is largely packed into small and medium cities — not spread out in rural areas. It's more than 70 percent urban, and 30 of the state's counties produce 81 percent of the vote.
And we have indoor plumbing and electric lights, too!
