With the Pennsylvania Democratic primary over, the focus is now on Indiana. Supporters of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in Northwest Indiana are gearing up for the Hoosier State’s moment in the national spotlight.
Jennifer Wilson says she’s ready to help New York Senator Hillary Clinton win as many Hoosier votes as possible on May 6. That’s why she’s volunteering at a local phone bank, making calls to potential supporters. Wilson says Clinton’s big win yesterday in Pennsylvania will help.
WILSON: She’s real. She has a practical and methodical plan. It’s not hype. For 35 years, she’s been fighting. Right now, I don’t think America can really someone who is going to be passive.
But Obama’s loss in Pennsylvania doesn’t appear to be slowing his popularity in Northwest Indiana.
REPAY: He’s won so many states and he’s won so many delegates already, he’s in.
That’s Mike Repay, owner of the Flat Rock Bar in Hammond. Repay hosted a primary-watch party for Obama supporters last night at his cozy little bar. He says he hopes Clinton will ultimately do what he says is best for the Democratic Party.
REPAY: What she needs to do is kind of see the writing on the wall and bow-out gracefully. It’s time to heal the party.
There are still has some undecided voters, including among the state’s ever growing Hispanic population. That’s why Obama supporter Mara Candalaria Reardon, Indiana’s only Hispanic state legislator from Munster, will be talking to Latino groups in northeastern Indiana today about why they should help elect the nation’s first African-American president.
REARDON: We are going to have a president that truly understands the struggles that both of our communities face. The struggles that we face are often the same.
Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, is expected in heavily Hispanic East Chicago Friday.