Letters to the Editor
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That was a lively and vivid impression of the campaign trail
Indiana sounds like a lot more interesting place than lots of places in the Midwest are often portrayed. Thanks. That was an interesting piece.
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Reason why drawn out primaries are in fact good
Full disclosure: I'm an Obama supporters, so I'm a bit nervous about this whole situation. Buuuuut...
Just how many people outside the midwest knew anything about Indiana. I knew that they love basketball, and this girl from Indianapolis and that's it. (Oh and Michael Jackson and family is from Gary.)
It's about time Democrats started learning about the rest of the country. The drawn out primary is forcing us to dump the bunker mentality (you know... east coast, west coast, few states bordering a lake, and maybe Ohio or Florida, and we'll be fine) and bring our message to the rest of the country, to towns and cities that need it and want to hear it, many of which would gladly throw their support behind us if we would just send our candidates around once in a while.
Indiana probably isn't going Democrat anytime soon. But if there's lessons to be had from this primary and the last election, it is that a 50 state strategy is necessary and viable and that a message of competence in governance can go a long way.
Who's next? North Carolina? The state that elected John Edwards? Let's make some waves.
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Not Quite So Republican As All That
It's worth mentioning the curiosity that despite always voting Republican in the presidential elections, Indiana elects Democratic Governors and Senators with quite a bit of frequency--Evan Bayh was Governor before he was Senator (and was elected to that post way back in 1998), and his father Birch was a Senate Democrat from the early 60s through the early 80s.
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The Bernie Smith Moment
"'I was raised as a Republican," Smith said, 'and I can't feel that way anymore.'"
Can I get an amen?
Indiana is, indeed, a very independent state, but the people there have chosen to vote Republican pretty often in the past. The article, overall, is one of the best which have shown up here at Salon in months, clear, accurate, without an agenda, and apparently without the usual transparent prejudices evident.
Now comes Everyman Bernie Smith, accompanying the original Candidate of Change, who, like me, "was raised as a Republican but can't feel that way anymore." I haven't for a long time, actually, but like the apostate Catholic, I have stayed on anyway, even though I've supported more Democrats than Republicans over the years.
Bernie Smith may well be a harbinger of the future not only of Indiana but of the United States.
It's time.
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The Hoosier Relevancy
The Dem contenders realize that it is make or break time in Indiana, and Hoosiers I know are grateful for the face time.
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Steely-eyed Clinton
Indiana should be Obama's to lose. The true-blue strip in "Da Region" (counting South Bend, Michigan City [where I lived for five years], and metro Gary), who knows how they'll go. One would think the proximity to Illinois and the various college towns will favor Obama, but who knows for sure? Obviously if Indiana goes for Obama, the Clinton crew will declare Indiana meaningless and unrepresentative, as has been their campaign motif the whole time, to spin losses away.
Looking at Gary and Burns Harbor and M. City, it's hard to toe a Clintonian "Woman of Steel" line with any kind of credibility, the route of protectionism and saving Big Steel. The urban wasteland of Gary in particular shows what over a century of life under Big Steel has offered the region. Sure, jobs (at least until the 1960s, when everything began to go wrong in American steel), but at what cost? The place is devastated, and when the wind is bad you can smell the sulfur, feel it at the back of your throat. Steel has not been kind to the places that produce it, which is surely why it's thriving in China and India, and why any sense that the US can really compete against Third World laxity in environmental standards, workplace safety, and pay levels is a pipe dream.
Gary and the steel belt along the lakeshore have already prostituted themselves to Big Steel, and were not well-served by it (I'm sure much of Gary's shoreline qualifies as a Superfund site). The region shows its wear and tear, the brute force of company-town capitalism has laid the region bare -- the hopelessness is as thick as the plumes of smoke from the mill smokestacks.
I don't think the American steel industry as we know it can be saved in the global economy -- and what's more, after what it's done to every American city where it once thrived, I don't know if it should be saved. At some point, regions have to look to the future, and not the past. As ever, Clinton's campaign rhetoric hearkens to the American past at a time when we need a leader who's looking to the future.
We'll see what Indiana goes for, I guess, where its heart is at.
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Report on Indiana
Excellent journalism, thanks very much --next best thing to being there Norman Birnbaum
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thanks
Excellent article, real journalism. Greatly appreciated.
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Will we ever get a political columnist at Salon who knows what she/he is talking about?
In the first place, this isn’t a presidential campaign, like Kennedy/Nixon. It’s a primary. In the second place, Indianna really doesn’t matter. Even if Hillary wins this state and the next few, she won’t rack up as many delegate votes as she needs to beat Obama. In the third place, there is little if any tension about the elections from now on: Obama is more or less expected to win them all. By the way, Obama was pretty much expected, in contrast, to lose Pennsylvania. It would have been a sweet victory if it happened, but no one including Obama expected it to happen. The goal was merely to close the gap as much as possible.
And, oh dear, was Obama’s “Love you back” businesslike? Like I’m taking Salon’s word for that.
Like I take Salon’s word on anything political now.
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When Democrats chase Hoosiers and Region Rats
A correction: Mellencamp is not for Obama. As a matter of fact, he has not endorsed either candidate and agreed to play at both campaigns. I would check your sources and make corrections.
Indiana is for all purposes, Clinton territory. They are blue collar and Latinos who have been hurt by the current administrations attitude which is only the wealthy count! I think Indiana is going to break for Hillary Clinton and I hope the media begins to open their eyes and recognize Hillary gets the white male vote, catholic vote and blue collar. Obama attracts elite wealthy voters and fails to break through to the core voting block. He falls short as a deal closer. Sad, Obama made this race about race and blames the Clintons and unfortunately has duped the ever naive media into believing him.
I think Indiana will be very relevant in the general election as the map of red and blue states have all but broken ranks with the GOP. This election has been very telling, millions of new registered voters are now Democrats. I once said Obama's skin color is not the issue. His gender is. He is yet another man. It's time we gave a woman an opportunity to show there is a difference,