Northwest Indiana, often viewed as an extension of suburban Chicago and sharing Chicago’s television market, is seen as strong territory for Mr. Obama, who lives on the South Side of Chicago. Indianapolis, the state capital, which includes a large segment of Indiana’s 9 percent African-American population, is also expected to lean toward Mr. Obama. In the blue-collar, rural parts south of Indianapolis, where the residents often have stronger links to Kentucky than to Illinois (or even Indiana), Mrs. Clinton is expected to have the advantage As with so many recent primaries, no one — here or elsewhere — ever anticipated that Indiana’s presidential primary would matter much. For 40 years, the primary here has come too late, so the change comes as a shock to voters who rarely had seen presidential campaign advertisements, to political organizers and to overwhelmed election registrars.
And unlike some other states, including Pennsylvania, Indiana has mostly been ignored in general elections, too. It has long been written off by both parties as so reliably Republican in presidential races as to not be worth much note. After 1936, a Democratic presidential candidate has won the general election here only once, Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. |
