Published: October 11, 2008 11:14 pm            

Mark Bennett: McCain absent from Indiana

TERRE HAUTE — In a debate long ago, one candidate derided his rival’s “new ideas” and demanded to know, “Where’s the beef?”

Over the past eight months, Hoosiers have been served a triple cheeseburger-sized portion of the 2008 presidential politics, with only a side-order of Republican. If they peek under the campaign bun, they’re bound to ask, “Where’s McCain?”

On Wednesday, his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, visited Indiana for the 46th time in 2008. John McCain has been here twice — Feb. 22 and July 1. Of course, Obama’s first 40 Hoosier stops came during his tight Indiana primary race against Hillary Clinton, who blanketed the state, too. McCain had no real opposition, and didn’t have to stump here. That still leaves the GOP ticket appearing far less focused on Indiana folks.

Here’s a suggestion for McCain: Come and get the beef. Why not shake a few hundred hands and sample the succulent buried beef made at the Tangier Community Center during the famed Parke County Covered Bridge Festival, now under way? He could bring running mate Sarah Palin, and she could hunt deer with a bow, while the senator enjoys coffee and a sandwich.

Then again, there’s Rockville, Mansfield, Bridgeton. Heck, it doesn’t have to be the bridge festival. Terre Haute, Muncie, Kokomo, Anderson, Aurora or Angola would work, too. Just show up somewhere on Indiana soil. Granted, that would send a signal that the Republicans are, for the first time in decades, unable to blow off active presidential campaigning in this traditionally deep red state. Indiana has only let the national GOP down once since 1936, favoring Democrat Lyndon Johnson over Barry Goldwater in 1964. Thus, neither party has wasted time or money here in past elections.

That was then. This is now.

Obama could win. Polls show him even or slightly trailing McCain. But if 90 percent of success is showing up, as Woody Allen said, then McCain’s lead is thinner yet. Far more Hoosiers have seen and heard Obama in person, shook his hand and snapped cell phone pictures of him. TV ads are one thing, but personal appearances leave deeper impressions. He’s physically connecting with Hoosiers, battered by a reeling national economy, more than any Democratic hopeful in recent memory.

If the Republicans see risk in battling for a state that’s always been automatically theirs, they’re taking a big gamble. McCain and Palin need to come to Indiana, more than once. If such an announcement arrives this weekend, then another should follow. It shouldn’t be a quick cameo. They’re up against momentum.

“The difference in appearances is astounding,” said Jim McDowell, a veteran political analyst from Indiana State University. “[Obama] has been everywhere.”

McCain’s Great Lakes regional office insists Indiana isn’t being taken for granted.

“Indiana, we are absolutely focused on it,” said Sarah Lenti, regional communications director for McCain. “Indiana is in play. We want this state, and I look forward to finding out who’s coming to the state and when.”

As of Thursday, Lenti knew of no Indiana stops planned by McCain or Palin.

Mitch Daniels, the state’s Republican governor and a McCain supporter, thinks visits would help.

“The governor has said on a couple of occasions that he hopes the McCain campaign will come to Indiana with personal visits,” said Cam Savage, spokesman for Daniels’ own gubernatorial campaign.

Daniels thinks those appearances “would be good for the state,” Savage said. During McCain’s February appearance in downtown Indianapolis, Daniels said the heavy campaigning by Clinton and Obama at the time was also good for the state financially, educationally and politically.

But coming to Indiana is important for McCain’s chances, too.

In August, Daniels told The Associated Press he was concerned the McCain campaign wasn’t doing much here. “I hope he’ll do more,” he told The AP. “He’s got a good case to make; he needs to come make it.”

Obama has done that. Last week’s return trip — the Illinois senator’s sixth since the primary — drew 21,000 people.

“Those six stops show what his commitment is to Indiana,” said Jonathan Swain, director of communications for Obama’s Indiana campaign.

By June 30, Obama “was already putting resources back into Indiana,” Swain said. “He believed then, and believes now, that Indiana is within reach.”

The campaign has 43 offices around the state, including ones in Terre Haute, Sullivan and Greencastle. The Republicans use a different structure to connect presidential candidates to localities, said Marc Lotter, spokesman for McCain’s Indiana campaign. The national ticket utilizes party offices and staff in all 92 Hoosier counties.

“We’re getting Senator McCain’s message out, and we’re not going to let Senator Obama’s attacks go unanswered,” Lotter said.

Since spring, Obama’s Indiana forces have tried to attract Clinton backers. She narrowly beat Obama in the primary, but together they received 1,278,268 Democratic votes in May. Swain, who previously worked for Clinton’s campaign, said the Obama team has successfully consolidated the two groups of Democrats. Nonetheless, the crossover doesn’t seem complete. McCain got 320,290 from Republicans, and all of the GOP candidates landed 412,745 total. If a majority of Clinton’s loyalists were solidly in Obama’s corner, he’d be far ahead of McCain in the polls.

McDowell remains skeptical that Obama can overcome odds and tradition, and take Indiana. That possibility is “a longshot,” he said. McDowell also wonders if Obama may be making a tactical mistake by emphasizing Indiana so much, and perhaps losing a larger electoral prize in neighboring Ohio. (The Buckeye state offers 20 electoral votes, compared to Indiana’s 11.)

Still, he’s not completely ruling out an Obama Hoosier surprise on Nov. 4.

“He’s hitting the right notes with the audiences he attracts,” McDowell said.

The old raffle ticket motto might apply to Campaign ’08 — you must be present to win.



Mark Bennett can be reached at mark.bennett@tribstar.com or (812) 231-4377.

        

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