Obama makes Indy pit stop, calls 13 voters

INDIANAPOLIS – Democratic Sen. Barack Obama flew to Indianapolis late Tuesday morning to surprise some voters with a round of last-minute phone calls.

Obama arrived at the Indianapolis International Airport at about 10:30 a.m. and headed to a nearby United Auto Workers Local 550 “Get Out the Vote” call center. He stayed there about 45 minutes and made 13 phone calls.

“It’s going to be tight as a tick here in Indiana,” Obama told volunteers at the center with only seven hours to go in the area’s balloting. “So the question is who wants it more.”

Indianapolis was the only campaign stop he planned outside of Illinois on Election Day. Obama said he wouldn’t have visited Indiana if he didn’t think he could win the state.

“Well, I’ll tell you, I think we have a great chance in Indiana,” he told one voter.

Obama returned to the airport at about 11:50 a.m., and his plane left for a return flight to Chicago at about 12:15 p.m. In Chicago, Obama planned to play a basketball game with friends and staff – a habit he stuck with in the primaries for good luck – before watching election returns at a hotel room.

Later that night, he addressed supporters from a stage built especially for the occasion in Chicago’s Grant park.

Polls leading up to Tuesday’s election showed Obama and Republican John McCain to be in a dead heat in Indiana as the election neared. Democrats hoped to claim their first presidential victory in the state since Indiana chose Lyndon Johnson in 1964.