In Indiana, ‘all hell will break loose’

Hillary Clinton looked ready to bring home an 10-point victory in the pivotal Pennsylvania Democratic presidential primary Tuesday night. And most political watchers agreed that the outcome of the overall race is still a little murky.\nBut the result for presidential politics in Indiana couldn’t be more clear.\n“All hell will break loose,” said Andy Downs, a longtime Indiana political watcher. \nWith the pivotal Pennsylvania primary out of the way, the Hoosier state will get a full dose of presidential primary attention – like it hasn’t seen since 1968.\nThis means that until Indiana Democrats hit the polls May 6, they will see local campaign staffs double, a flurry of visits from candidates and advertising cash pour into the state, said Downs, the \ndirector of the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics at IU-Purdue University Fort Wayne.\n“This may be the closest it will come to living in Iowa that people from Indiana will ever care to get,” he said. \nIn the long and grueling Democratic presidential nomination race between Clinton and her opponent Barack Obama, Indiana is now “it.” \nIn a speech on April 12 in Muncie, Obama called Indiana, with its 84 delegates, a potential “tiebreaker” for the national race. And former U.S. Congressman Lee Hamilton, a renowned Hoosier Democrat and Obama supporter, agreed. \n“I suspect that Indiana will play a very, very important role in the Democratic nomination,” Hamilton told the Indiana Daily Student.\nJoe Hogsett, an Indiana co-chair for the Clinton campaign, downplayed the state’s importance to the former First Lady’s campaign, saying it’s not a “must win.”\nBut, no one disagrees that this state is still up in the air, and that makes it a fierce political battleground.\nPolls shed little light on race. Of the six surveys of Hoosier voters released in April, four put Clinton, a New York senator, ahead while two give Obama, an Illinois senator, the lead. \nAnd in every remaining state, one candidate has an obvious advantage over another, Downs said. Not so in Indiana. \nEach campaign points to advantages that the other candidate has among Hoosier voters. \nObama has a leg up in Northwest Indiana, a stronghold of Democratic voters in the state and a region dominated by Obama’s hometown Chicago media. And he’s got a lot more money to burn.\nFor her part, Clinton has the backing of Indiana’s Sen. Evan Bayh and most of the Democratic party establishment. Bayh is a popular former two-term governor and is on the short list of potential Clinton running-mates. \nAnd the demographics in the state tend to favor Clinton – lots of blue-collar workers and a comparatively low percentage of black and college-educated voters. \nSo what will it take to win? That answer is more difficult, says Ann DeLaney, a Democratic pundit and former state party chair. \nBut one factor that could decisively swing the election is voter turnout. \nSome 135,000 Hoosiers registered to vote between January and the April 7 deadline, according to figures from the Indiana Secretary of State’s office. This includes about 6,400 new voters in Monroe County alone. \n“But, the $64,000 question is: Do they vote?” DeLaney said.