The Nation: Hoosiers for Obama

[marmar]

Hoosiers for Obama
posted by Ari Berman on 11/01/2008 @ 8:59pm



ELKHART, INDIANA--It's three days before the presidential election and I've just arrived in Indiana, a state George W. Bush won by 21 points on 2004 and 16 points in 2000. It's now considered a top battleground state, with polls showing a dead heat between Obama and McCain. That's absolutely remarkable for a state that hasn't gone Democratic since 1964 and only voted for a Democratic presidential candidate three times in the 20th century.

Obama targeted Indiana heavily during the Democratic primary in May, which he lost narrowly to Hillary Clinton, and has kept his wide-reaching campaign infrastructure in place since then. He's visited the state 48 times during the Democratic primary and after (compared to just two trips for McCain) and drew 35,000 people to a rally in Indianapolis last week and 40,000 to an event in Gary last night. Suffice to say, Hoosier Democrats have never seen such enthusiasm for a Democratic candidate in their lifetime. "Obama just kept campaigning here, his volunteers are very active and they are everywhere," says Brian Vargus, a professor of political science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Democrats have shattered early voting records, holding a 32 percent lead among those who've already voted.

I'm staying in Elkhart County, in Northern Indiana near South Bend, bordering Michigan. Bush won 70 percent of the vote here in 2004. Yet Obama beat Hillary Clinton by 18 points in the primary and his campaign believes they can improbably flip the county blue. "Elkhart is a real key county for us," says Obama's Indiana Communications Director Jonathan Swain. "It's traditionally pretty Republican but we think we've got a good chance of winning it."

Elkhart, like many places in America, has fallen on hard times. The city of Elkhart, population 52,700, is known as the "RV Capital of the World." Yet in the past year Monaco Coach has closed three manufacturing plants in the area, laying off 1,400 workers. The unemployment rate has climbed to over 10 percent. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters/379204/hoosiers_for_obama

[Indiana_Dem]

1. That'd be great if we could only get volunteers to show up!

Today hardly anybody showed up and it was the last day for early voting in my small town 2 hours south of Elkhart. 10,000 voted in 2004 in my county. So far, the newspaper states 6,000 have early voted. We need help!

[VoodooGuru]

2. Go Hoosiers!

Turn that state blue!