May 07, 2008
Northwest Indiana
As I awaited the results from Indiana last night, I was stunned by the lack of curiosity about Lake County, Indiana shown by the commentators on CNN. I spent a year of my life reporting for the Hammond Times, now the Northwest Indiana Times, so I know a bit about that turf.
The area, fondly known as "the region" to its inhabitants, is a microcosm of American society. Gary, its largest town, is a predominantly poor black city. But the predominantly white counterparts along the southern tip of Lake Michigan to the west -- Hammond and East Chicago -- are also very poor and working class, dilapidated communities that surround downsized steel mills.
But there are about 25 other towns in the county, and the further south you go (Crown Point, the county seat, and my favorite, Merrillville), the whiter and more middle class it gets. In the far south of the county, it is farm country.
I mention this because while awaiting the results, the on air commentators asked no questions about how the "white" areas of the county were voting. When Hammond mayor Tom McDermott was given national air time, all they could ask him about was the delay in reporting the vote. He repeatedly said that he had sent in his vote totals to the county board of elections, and he was upset as anyone that they hadn't been reported to the nation.
But he let slip that Clinton won by 600 votes in Hammond. No one followed up on that comment. 600 votes? There were probably 20,000 votes or so out of Hammond. That means that Obama did very well there. Perhaps the growing black and Hispanic population in that small city accounted for his showing.
Ultimately, Clinton did well enough to hold onto her slim victory in the state. But I suspect it was the more upper middle class areas of Lake County that preserved her margin. Last night's vote in Indiana, and especially in a town like Hammond, suggested to me that white working class Democrats, who have been one of the pillars of the Clinton candidacy, will, in these tough economic times, ultimately support an Obama candidacy.
Posted by gooznews at May 7, 2008 08:11 AMAs a native of North-Central IN (Peru - Miami Co.), with family up and down the state from Michigan City to Bloomington and Evansville, I was amazed at well Obama did across the state period. I can honestly say that in a lot (if not most) of IN, the racial prejudice lies much deeper than in TN where I live now. Other than Bloomington, most of the state is not what you would call "liberal-minded" in any sense of the word - racially, socially, etc.
I agree whole-heartedly with your sentiments: the media is just not that capable of recognizing (let alone reporting) subtle nuance . . . the simplistic narratives that make up the stock-and-trade these days simply won't allow for it.
Posted by: Morris Berg at May 8, 2008 09:29 AMThere's a whole lotta shakin' goin' on here, Merrill. 1.1 million voters have recently been purged from the IN rolls, more than a quarter-million from Lake and Porter counties alone. The number that Lake purged was equivalent to 48% of the number left, and Porter actually purged 15% more than the number remaining in their voter registration database!
There's more info here -
http://www.bbvforums.org/cgi-bin/forums/board-auth.cgi?file=/1954/73758.html
The MSNBC commentators mentioned that, according to exit polls, both the poorest and the highest-educated tended to be Obama supporters, while most of the middle-of-the-roaders were going for Clinton, so I suspect these purges -- most likely affecting the poor in Lake County and Valpo U. students and faculty in Porter County -- made just enough difference to decide the outcome.
How many long-time residents stood in line to vote, then were not allowed to? (This, on top of new ID requirements that prevented even a 90+ year old nun from voting, and Lush Lambaste's happy little troop of "Operation Chaos" cross-over voters.)
I guesstimate that Obama would have won with a margin of at least 5% if the election shenanigans hadn't occurred -- and that it was the counting (not counting?) of tens if not hundreds of thousands of "provisional" ballots, submitted by residents who were not properly allowed to vote normally, that delayed their reporting of results.
Posted by: Thel at May 10, 2008 11:20 AMHi,Merrill -- didn't you see the shameless and ridiculous grilling Wolf Blitzer gave to the mayor of Gary late that night over the slow reporting of results? I'd hardly call that a "lack of curiosity."
Posted by: Mark Miller at May 10, 2008 01:27 PM