Obama Tries to Turn Indiana Blue

INDIANAPOLIS — Democrats typically skip right over reliably Republican Indiana when plotting presidential campaign strategy. Not Barack Obama. The candidate from next-door Illinois is bidding to flip the state into the Democratic column this year. To that end, he is doing what no presidential candidate has done in decades — spending significant amounts of money and time in the state, while Republican John McCain maintains a low profile. Obama narrowly lost the May primary here to Hillary Rodham Clinton. And in the process, he had “the opportunity to at least define himself with Hoosier voters and that has lingered,” said Kip Tew, a former state Democratic chairman who is a volunteer adviser to the Obama campaign. “They competed with a ground game that no one’s ever seen in the state.” Indiana, with 11 electoral votes, is one of only a handful of states where Obama’s advertising has been unanswered by McCain. The Democrat has 32 offices across ... (link)