The talk is that Romney is scared that he might be losing Indiana.

[LiberalFighter]

From the Last Word. Not getting votes in the middle and losing votes from women.

[hrmjustin]

1. The early voting there is up 50% from 2008.

[bluestateguy]

2. I think he has enough of a cushion in Indiana

Akin cost him a couple % in Missouri but not enough to jeopardize the state for him.

[doublethink]

5. Another name like Akin is in the ballgame in Indiana now...

as of yesterday 'Richard Murdock'.

[Mutiny In Heaven]

7. "Howling Mad Mourdock"

I doubt it will cost Romney the state, but with a bit of luck that idiot has ruined his chances of becoming a senator anytime soon.

[RandySF]

3. Well

It's plausible that Romney is encountering trouble in Northern Indiana and Indianapolis because of the auto bailout.

[nobunnyclue]

12. That's turning out to the a pivot issue for many in Ohio too

You have the swath of sub-Michigan states that are still largely agri-rural-industrial. A white, xtian contingent that watches a lot of Fox news, but depends on domestic auto manufacturing and distribution, exports of food (e.g., soybeans) to China, and also benefits from numerous "fiscally irresponsible" government transfer programs. In short, large parts of Indiana, OH, and PA share common sensibilities, and, as far as economics go, they are not sensibilities Romney has. This is the POPULIST mid-west, although also the slightly xenophobic Midwest.

With an Obama rising tide, PA will go solid to Obama, Ohio will be next, and he could even break through in Indiana.

With a Romney rising tide, it goes the opposite way.

[yellowcanine]

4. Link? I couldn't find this anywhere.

[BlueDemKev]

6. Obama's not going to win Indiana, BUT...

...we just might pick up the Senate seat there!

[barnabas63]

19. +1

yes...the race is very close, and this could tip things toward the democratic candidate.

[ProudProgressiveNow]

30. +1

Big pickup!

[faithfulcitizen]

8. not to mention tea party/radicals sitting it out or voting 3rd party.

Also, once Lugar was defeated, I knew Obama might have a chance here.

[courseofhistory]

9. He's too gutless to recind his ad and support of

Mourdock and one reason is that he agrees with him privately. He's a poor excuse for a man and human being!

[sobenji]

10. We went blue in 08

We went blue in 08, but that was after Obama was here a jillion times for the primaries and then the general election.
We haven't seen him here this time (sad, but understandable). We have had Michelle and Bill recently.

[Cha]

23. Welcome to DU, sobenji

[DonRedwood]

26. welcome!

have they done much polling recently in your area? I don't know how indiana stays so red when there is so much blue around it.

[ProudProgressiveNow]

31. Welcome to DU!

[BlueStreak]

11. There is virtually no polling on Romney/Obama because Obama did not compete here

We had the most minimal of campaign offices and only one recent event from significant surrogates. Bill Clinton was here a couple of weeks ago.

Basically Obama conceded the state.

But hold on. There IS polling on the Senate race. That should be an easy win for the Republicans if Obama isn't competing here. But Donnelly (D) seems to be in a dead heat with the teabagger (Mourdock).

Still, Obama isn't competing, .... but ...

I did early voting in Marion County (Indianapolis) last week. It was light. But today, there were long lines, and I bet most of them were Democrats.

In 2008, there were three early voting sites in Indianapolis. They were so crowded that I went there one day, stayed for 45 minutes and left. I came back later in the week when I could afford to wait the 3 hours to vote. And what have the Republicans in charge done this year? They cut out 2 of the 3 early voting sites. You have to go to the heart of downtown, which is a major hassle. But the lines are huge now. This has forced the Republicans to do a minor cave-in and add early voting hours -- still at only one site.

I am not predicting an Obama win here, but it could be a whole lot closer than anybody thought. Let's see if either of the campaigns sends a high-profile surrogate or two. We are next door to Ohio and almost next door to Wisconsin, so it would be easy to add events. I'm on the volunteer list with the campaign, so I'll chime in if I hear anything.

[dhill926]

14. agreed.....

might be closer than we think. Folks really don't like Romney, with good reason. And Mourdock....holy hell. Will bear watching election night....

[Proud Liberal Dem]

17. I'm not very hopeful about Indiana going blue again this year

OTOH it looks like Donnelly might be able to pull out an upset in the Senate race, particularly now that Mourdock has effectively shot himself in the foot with his rape comments (WTF is it with Republicans and rape?). I'm anxious about the governor's race. Pence is favored to win but I cling to a small fig leaf of hope that he doesn't.

[LisaL]

21. Mourdock probably didn't help himself with "a gift from god" comments.

But maybe he did help Obama.
One can hope.

[RoccoR5955]

22. Mourdock lost that race.

I don't believe that any sane woman would vote for him after his statement about rape, and his refusal to apologize for it.

If there is any upticket leverage, Obama could feasibly win Indiana.

[BlueStreak]

25. There are morons everywhere, and Indiana has more than its share. Trust me on that.

It will be close. But with Obama not campaigning and the candidate for Governor trailing by 10 points, it has always been an uphill battle for Donnelly.

I do notice that most of the faces I saw in the video of the long early voting line today were women, so maybe this is a call to action.

I also notices that many of them were African-American women. Being an old whit man, I wouldn't presume to speak for them. But I do wonder how this issue breaks for African-American women. Most of them are very religious, and that is the basis of Mourdock's rape position. Are there many African-American women who are that hard-line on the issue -- no exception for rape.

Or are they more sensitive to a history of being disproportionately the victims of rape, before and after slavery? And I assume they have strong resistance to anybody, including the government, telling them what to do with their bodies.

I'm just curious how African-American women look at this conflict. There is probably no single answer to that question, but I'd appreciate any insights from people with fewer Y chromosomes than me and/or a little less chalky complexion.

[Cha]

24. Thank you, BlueStreak!

[Drunken Irishman]

29. I also hear Indiana has very strict polling laws that make it hard to poll the state?

[BlueStreak]

34. I am not aware of that.

There was lots of polling in 2008. There are several polls done by local universities.

[madashelltoo]

13. Repigs caught red-handed in illegal voter purge

They got caught in La Porte County purging 20 percent of the roll illegally and the Dems have been putting them back on the roll. The article is on dailykos right now. I can't copy and paste link right now. I bet he's feeling insecure about several of their schemes backfiring.

That Trump shit was just another ploy to distract voters.

[LisaL]

15. Voter purge story is stating to make sense.

Cause I was like-why the hell are they purging voters in IN of all places?
Hmm...

[RichGirl]

16. It's surprising that....

With everyone having access to ALL the news that people would make a decision as important as this based on if the candidate comes to their state. Rallys are fun....but my no means the reason I would vote for someone. I wouldn't even go to a rally unless I have already decided to vote for them. Really weird!

[Cha]

18. Good ol L O'D! Thanks for the report, LiberalFighter!

[Kalidurga]

20. I don't see an overnight 15 point shift

But, then I don't know how real that 15 points is to begin with. One of the polls is Rassmussen, so it's very unlikely Romney has a real lead that big. So, maybe it is only 10 points. But, still the biggest shift I can imagine is 5 points or so. BTW by overnight I mean in less than 2 weeks to go.

[LisaL]

27. When was a last time In was polled?

[Kalidurga]

32. Good question.

It looks like the last poll was October 10th. I still don't know about Indiana. It isn't a state I see Obama winning. But, anything is possible I suppose, people waking up at the last minute and realizing they don't want civil rights pushed back 60 years, so they vote for Obama. Anyway, I will be very happy if Obama wins Indiana, but I think it's a long shot.

[MadBadger]

36. Rasmussen on October 16th had it 54-41 Romney

Yes its Rasmussen, but they wouldnt be wrong by that much.

[faithfulcitizen]

35. you are probably right, but anecdotally I see SO many Obama stickers here...

and I rarely saw any Kerry stickers. These are 2012, not 2008. I live in a 85% repub county too! And he's running ads here since many Ohioans share tv ad coverage. I really think it's possible, though not probable.

[blazeKing]

28. Mourdock sounds like the evil villain from Macgyver

That would be AMAZING if we could take that Senate seat. Go Donnelly go, let's get some money in there. Mourdock is a NUT.

[AverageJoe90]

33. As awesome as that would be.......

I'm not convinced it'll happen this year.....but, stranger things have happened: The possibility of Arizona, of all states, being a potential November surprise for our side, didn't even cross my mind. And yet, some evidence suggests we have a better shot at winning AZ than many first believed, myself included.

*crosses fingers, hopes for miracle*.

[QuickDraw McGraw]

37. On the ground in Indiana

I mostly lurk here, but live in Indiana so I thought I would chime in. If one goes by the number of bumper stickers, TV ads, and yard signs, it is all Repub and hardly any Dem. The TV ads for the Senate race have Donnelly and Mourdock hammering each other just about equally. It DOES seem like most of Mourdock's ads are from PACs rather than his campaign. I have seen NO presidential TV ads other than a couple that were broadcast nationally. I think both parties have given up on Indiana for the presidential race, but it usually goes that way. I think Indiana will go red this year, but it usually does, so no big surprise.

The governor's race has been all Mike Pence from day one. There has been hardly any mention of his opponent Gregg in the local media and whoever designed Gregg's TV campaign ads should have been fired. They made me cringe and made Gregg look like a real yokel, which he certainly is not. His first real turn in the spotlight came during the debates, where Libertarian candidate Rupert Bohnam (from Survivor fame) was given equal time. It was hard to take the debates seriously, Rupert had trouble forming words into sentences.

The Senate race with Mourdock vs. Donnelly has been neck and neck from day one. The good news is that Mourdock's debate gaffe has been all over the local media. The bad news is the local media is also giving him a lot of coverage to explain what he meant by his remarks without challenge. It didn't help him, but I don't think it will hurt him much either. It wasn't as bad a mistake as loser Akin made and Right-to-Life is very strong here in Indiana. This race is still a nail-biter.

[MightyAfrodite]

38. I live in Indianapolis ....

and I'm going to vote tonight. (Had to wait for my husband's night off because we have a tradition of voting together.) Anyhoo, I hope we see long long lines (even though we'll probably have the grandson with us) because this is the week the polls are open late.

I'm hoping and praying that Murdoch's remarks help flip the state for Obama, though, like everyone else, I think that's a long shot. That Mitt Romney ad supporting Murdoch might help. Before that, we haven't seen Romney's face on the television here. I've made four donations in the last couple of weeks for Donnelly's campaign. I think he's got a good chance of winning.

I think Obama should make a quick stop here in Indy. Supporters are dying to see him here. We went blue last time, so there's no telling what a visit here might do for the POTUS' campaign.