Hillary claims Howard County

By SCOTT SMITH
Tribune staff writer

May 07, 2008 12:10 am

— U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly may have predicted that “as Howard County goes, so Indiana goes,” but it might not be so, Joe.
Clinton won Howard County easily, taking more than 56 percent of votes cast, but Indiana as a state remained too close to call as of press time Tuesday night.
With Lake County’s vote not expected before 1 a.m., Clinton’s 52-48 statewide lead appeared too narrow to declare victory, and perhaps not enough — even if it held up — to save her nomination hopes.
“I’m disappointed North Carolina wasn’t a little more toward Hillary, and I would have liked Indiana to be a bit more heavily in her favor, to give her more of a chance,” said Kokomo Clinton supporter Bev Pugh, a retired teacher. “I just think you look in her eye, and you can see she’s absolutely determined to do the right thing.”
As Pugh was disheartened with Tuesday’s results, Kokomo Barack Obama supporter David Tharp said he didn’t think Indiana mattered any longer in terms of the nomination.
“The delegate math is over anyway; Barack Obama is going to be the nominee,” said Tharp, a political science major at IUPUI. “Even if she wants to continue to move the goal posts and include Michigan and Florida, Obama would still win the popular vote.”
Tharp also dismissed recent national polls showing Clinton doing better in a hypothetical match-up with presumptive Republican nominee John McCain.
“I think as far as the Electoral College vote goes, he’s poised to win states Democrats haven’t won in a long time,” Tharp said. “And the polls are unreliable. He just endured the worst two months of his campaign, and he was still able to rack up the victory in North Carolina.”
Howard County Democratic Party Chairman Bob Stephenson said he was surprised at Tuesday’s results, particularly given expectations that the Howard County results might mirror the state.
“I’m really surprised. I thought she was narrowing the margin in North Carolina, and my personal feeling was she’d win Indiana, so I think she’s lost a lot of momentum,” Stephenson said. “But I don’t think she’ll give in.”
Stephenson also said he didn’t think Clinton should quit now.
“There’s a part of me that says [quit], but really I’d fight on if I was her. I’d just like to see it go all the way to the end ... You never know what will happen; politics can change in a heartbeat.”
Stephenson said he’d also changed from thinking Clinton would be the weaker candidate against McCain.
“I used to think she’d bring out their base, but as I’ve watched this race, I’ve seen a lot of Republican women who I think would support her,” he said.
Howard County Republican Party Chairman Craig Dunn said he believes as many as 4,900 regular Republican voters crossed over to vote in the Democrats’ marquee match-up.
“I’m not in the least concerned about it,” he said.
But crossing over also isn’t something Dunn approves of — particularly conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh’s “Operation Chaos” plan to use Republican votes to throw the nomination to Clinton.
And Dunn disagreed with Stephenson, saying he still thinks Obama will be the tougher candidate to beat in November.
“I really don’t think Hillary can energize the young as Obama appears to have been able to do, or the totally disaffected, or certain demographics like Obama,” Dunn said.
Pugh, even while Tuesday’s vote didn’t appear to favor her candidate, said she still expects the Democrats will unite in November.
“I think all Democrats have seen the enemy, and we’re going to pull together and vote for whoever wins our nomination,” she said.
Scott Smith may be reached at (765) 454-8569 or via e-mail at scott.smith@kokomotribune.com

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