From Candidates on equal footing in Indiana
In Lake County, Obama was a household name well before the presidential race.
“The northwest part of our state considers itself part of Chicago,” says Matthew Tully, political columnist for the Indianapolis Star and a Gary native. “They get Chicago TV and read Chicago papers and have been watching Obama grow up as a politician for years now.
The other large cities in Indiana (Fort Wayne & Indianapolis) have large black populations and there are 3 large colleges in the rural areas of the state (Indiana University in Bloomington, Purdue in W. Layfayette and Ball State in Muncie).
If Hillary is able to get a competitive draw from suburbs and rural counties - this would actually be awesome, because it signals that the Democrats could compete in the fall. Indiana is another state with a conservatism that runs with a heavy strain of populism.
This populism is something the Democrats haven't been able to exploit in recent elections; nevertheless, it exists and it's embodied in the "root for the little guy" mentality. One way we've lost that, in my opinion, is by conservative politicians using gay rights and 2nd amendment issues to imply that liberal politicians care about other constituents more than the rural voters.
I guess that brings back us into that whole bitter territory, in a manner of speaking...