“One of the things that was said was he looked people in the eye and Hillary didn’t. That’s big for me, as a police officer. “
We now know that Senator Clinton won in Indiana with about 14,000 votes, according to the Washington Post. However, some totals from Indy are Clinton 641,723 to Obama’s 623,294. In NC (North Carolina), Obama had 890,723 to Clinton’s 657,997. Combined, Tuesday’s vote show Obama with 1,514,017 votes, to Clinton’s 1,299,731. Questions are being raised to what would have happened if Republicans coaxed by Rush Limbaugh’s “Operation Chaos” had not occurred. Nearly 10 percent of the vote totals in IN were Republican votes. Obama almost pulled it off in Indy, but still there’s no comfort in losing even it’s with one vote. Better to win with one vote than to lose with one vote.
New York Times is attributing Obama’s spectacular performance in Indy to this:
“he fared better than the final polls predicted by cutting into Clinton’s huge margin among several key groups in Ohio and Pennsylvania, such as white women and white voters without college degrees. He racked up big totals in college towns and with African American voters in Gary and Indianapolis, as expected. But he also won by 22 points in Hamilton County, an affluent Republican-leaning suburb north of Indianapolis; by 12 points in the county that includes Fort Wayne, after losing similar Rust Belt cities elsewhere; and lost by only four points in Evansville, on the southern border.
The Obama campaign attributed these successes to having placed the candidate in smaller venues and more personal gatherings—a horse barn, senior center, steel mill, a farmer’s back yard—where he sought to be seen less as a political star than a thoughtful listener. Mitch Stewart, Obama’s Indiana director, pointed in particular to Elkhart County, a Republican-leaning community east of South Bend, where the candidate did some canvassing and ended up winning by 18 points.
It made the difference for Jim Ballard, 41, an Elkhart police officer who did not make up his mind until last week.
“Barack seems to be hitting the smaller towns and talking to the people. And he makes you feel like you’re part of the process,” he said as he climbed on his Harley-Davidson in Granger. “One of the things that was said was he looked people in the eye and Hillary didn’t. That’s big for me, as a police officer. “”
Yes, looking people in the eye and telling the truth, rather than pandering.
UPDATE: On the Indiana figures, I have been able to get the correct figure. Here it is: 644,590 votes for Clinton and 630,395 for Obama. She won by 1.1%, but the media continues to say she won with 2%. In math calculations, 1.1 is nearer to 1 than 2. Right?
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