Published: May 03, 2008 11:45 pm            

Feeling needed

THE ISSUE:The Democratic presidential primaries.

OUR VIEW:The battle for the party’s nomination is energizing voters.

Ask anyone – there’s nothing more attractive to one than another’s desire. And maybe that’s why Hoosiers across the state have shown up in droves, often waiting hours, to listen to the campaign speeches of the Democratic presidential candidates.

We admit, once Indiana loomed large in deciding whether Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama would compete in the November election, we were jealous. For weeks, the candidates crisscrossed the state, stopping in Terre Haute, Bloomington, Lafayette, Indianapolis, South Bend – never Kokomo.

Because of our heavy manufacturing base and many vibrant labor unions, we figured the Clinton campaign viewed Kokomo as a win and the Obama camp, a lost cause. We were wrong.

First Obama, then Clinton this past week, made Kokomo visits. Both drew about 3,000 to Memorial Gym. Both came prepared to talk about Kokomo specifically. And both rightly identified jobs as a key issue to locals.

Like Obama, Clinton voiced her desire for clean energy manufacturing, beginning with the federal government funding the development of “the car of the future.”

“I’ll bet if Henry Ford came back ... he’d look under the hood of one or our cars and say, ‘the internal combustion engine? You mean you haven’t changed it in 100 years?’”

(She would of brought down the house if she had substituted Elwood Haynes for Ford.)

The candidates’ visits remind us that this primary battle isn’t hurting the Democratic Party. Clinton and Obama are speaking directly to the people, and they’re energizing voters. That’s a good thing.

And for the first time in 40 years, Hoosiers have a voice in whom Democrats will nominate for president. We matter. We feel needed. And it feels wonderful.

        

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