When Barack Obama launched his Organizing Fellows program 10 days ago, Indiana was conspicuously absent, signaling that the campaign might be writing off our neighbors to the east. But this Indianapolis Star article suggests the Hoosier State could see a presidential battle after all:
Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign is calling Indiana "a battleground state," and it's putting money into the state and assigning a key staff member here [...]
Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, will begin running a 60-second TV ad in Indiana and 17 other states today.
Shannon Gilson, a spokeswoman for Obama's campaign, said the campaign feels so strongly about its chances in Indiana that it has assigned Emily Parcell, who was political director for Obama in the crucial first-caucus state of Iowa, to be state director in Indiana.
"She's one of our most valued (staff members)," Gilson said. "We wouldn't put Emily in a state we weren't taking very seriously.
It's not surprising that Obama would focus on Indiana. Although it's a culturally conservative state that hasn't voted for a Democratic presidential nominee since 1964, about 1.3 million Democrats voted in the state's highly contested primary this year. That's 300,000 more votes than Kerry received in his general election loss to President Bush four years ago, although still 200,000 shy of the number of votes Bush garnered. And while some voters nationwide are wary of voting for Obama because they haven't followed his career closely, many Indiana residents, especially in the Northwest corner of the state, are well aware of the Illinois senator's accomplishments. Our buddy Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight is currently giving Obama a slightly higher probability of winning the state than John McCain.
The state also has a competitive gubernatorial race this year, with Democrat Jill Long Thompson offering a strong challenge to incumbent Republican Mitch Daniels. So it's nice to see the Obama campaign make a run at the Hoosier State, if only to bolster Long Thompson's chances and divert precious resources away from McCain.
(H/T Prairie State Blue)
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