Published: July 26, 2008 09:23 pm         

Obama HQ opens in Terre Haute

TERRE HAUTE — Live music and sunshine greeted local Democrats at the newly opened Indiana for Change campaign headquarters in downtown Terre Haute.

While a band played outside, Democrats gathered inside the new campaign headquarters Saturday at 509 Wabash Ave., hoping to help deliver Vigo County for local party candidates and the U.S. presidency to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

“We could win this state,” said former Indiana House of Representatives speaker John Gregg, who spoke at the office’s grand opening.

The new Indiana for Change office in Terre Haute will remain open until the November election, said Lauren Kelly, deputy regional field director for Indiana for Change.

“We have a big opportunity in Indiana in this election,” Kelly told the gathering. That’s not always been the case, she said.

Dozens of people, including volunteers, local politicians and party leaders, crowded into the small campaign headquarters for a brief rally at noon Saturday. Some people carried away Obama for President yard signs. Many people said they will volunteer to help Sen. Obama in the upcoming presidential race.

“I think [Obama] is the right choice,” said Ora Martin of Terre Haute. Martin, who was attending the Indiana for Change grand opening with family, has already been an Obama volunteer and plans to remain one, she said.

Democrats were divided during the party’s primary between supporters for Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Obama, but now must pull together behind the party’s candidate, Gregg said. “We’re a family in here,” he said. There is only a small difference between Obama and Clinton, Gregg said. The difference between Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is “huge,” he said.

Democratic presidential candidates have carried Indiana in four elections in the past 100 years, Gregg told the gathering. Those Democratic wins came in 1964, 1936, 1932 and 1916, he noted.

“We’ve got something to rally around this time,” said Todd Nation, president of the Terre Haute City Council and a speaker at the grand opening. Nation urged Democrats to support local candidates as well. “This office is not just about the top of the ticket,” he said.

Obama “gets people excited,” said Fouad Nassiri of Terre Haute, an Obama supporter and volunteer who was at the open house.

Karen Henman, another Obama supporter at the event, volunteered for the Illinois senator during the Democratic primary and is now coaxing her sister, a past Hillary Clinton supporter, into the Obama camp, she said.

“He seemed very impressive,” Henman said of the first time she saw Obama when he spoke at the 2004 Democratic party convention. Obama brought to mind John Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., she said. Henman then read Obama’s books and has been “totally excited ever since,” she said.

There are 15 Indiana for Change offices across Indiana, according to a media statement issued by the organization. There are 100 Obama staffers working in Indiana as well, Gregg said.

“We can win” in Indiana, Gregg said. The Hoosier state doesn’t have to be the first state to go Republican on election night, he said. “We could light up blue.”

Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.