TERRE HAUTE — Volunteers with the Barack Obama campaign were not crying in their beer Tuesday evening as results of the Democratic primary came in across the state.
While Sen. Obama managed to secure just 41 percent of the votes in Vigo County, overall in Indiana, the senator from Illinois continued to close the gap between himself and opponent Sen. Hillary Clinton.
After polls closed, volunteers with the Obama campaign headed over to Beef O’Brady’s restaurant in Terre Haute to watch election returns on CNN, where Indiana results were closely monitored throughout the evening.
Several dozen volunteers packed a back room of the restaurant, and the atmosphere was one of victory, even though their candidate appeared to have lost the state.
The television, which proclaimed Obama had won North Carolina, continued to show Indiana “too close to call,” until late into the evening.
Casey Chatham, 29, a volunteer from Terre Haute said, “I’ve expected the state to be close, and I’m prepared for either result, but the bottom line is, I am extremely proud of the effort we’ve made these last few days.”
As the gap between Clinton and Obama decreased from 10 percentage points to just four in Indiana, supporters cheered and clapped one another on the back, raising glasses of beer.
Chatham, a nurse at Union Hospital, had been volunteering as a nurse in Kenya “up until a week and a half ago,” he said.
“My absentee ballot was sent from Nairobi,” he added. “It cost me $57 to Fed Ex that ballot!”
Chatham said while the cost shocked him, “this is the first time I’ve been this passionate about politics, and this is the first time Indiana has mattered in my life. If this is what it costs, I thought, so be it.”
Chatham said that if Obama ends up on the ticket in November, he will campaign for him.
“As long as he’s in the race, I’m in it with him,” Chatham said.
Deb Kelly can be reached at (812) 231-4254 or deb.kelly@tribstar.com.
Local & Bistate
Obama backers remaining positive
- Local & Bistate
-
- UPDATE: Marshall, Ill., school bus driver involved in accident dies; cause appears to be cardiac-related
-
Terre Haute road name game
What used to be called U.S. 40 from the Wabash River west through West Terre Haute to Interstate 70 needs to be renamed and, probably, get new street addresses, a Vigo County planner recommends.
-
MARK BENNETT: William Henry Harrison taught us how to campaign
William Henry Harrison is running for president, again.
It seems impossible, because today would be his 239th birthday, and America has never elected a deceased person to the Oval Office. -
Air National Guard cuts won’t hit 181st Intelligence Wing
The Air National Guard is taking the lion’s share of planned cuts announced last week by the U.S. Air Force. But no cuts are currently expected at Terre Haute’s 181st Intelligence Wing. In fact, the nation’s evolving defense strategy may spell growth at the local base.
-
Friends group takes over Ernie Pyle home in Dana
The western Indiana home in which renowned Hoosier journalist Ernie Pyle was born and an adjacent museum dedicated to preserving his legacy as a World War II correspondent have a new owner.
-
ISU rec center pool out of service while being repaired
Indiana State University is spending about $10,000 to repair a swimming pool at the Student Recreation Center, which opened in 2009.
-
Clinton man throws away, then recovers, $50,000 ticket
A Vermillion County man found himself in a scenario that strikes fear in the heart of Lottery players everywhere. He threw away a $50,000 winning ticket.
-
Show to feature talents of artists with disabilities
Artists whose disabilities have overshadowed their work get a chance to shine in the light of a prodigy this coming month.
-
Fort Wayne forester tells of damage
The emerald ash borer likely will cause as much as $8 million in damage to Fort Wayne’s ash trees by 2015, the city’s manager of forestry operations told a Terre Haute audience Tuesday.
-
Unclaimed assets now part of Goodwill auction site
Many of Indiana’s unclaimed assets are now on Goodwill’s online auction site, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller announced Tuesday.
-
Toyota to increase Highlander output in Indiana
Toyota will increase production of the Highlander mid-size SUV in late 2013 at the company’s Princeton, Indiana plant. Hybrid and export versions will be included. The project is expected to create about 400 new jobs at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana Inc.
-
Friends of Ernie Pyle takes ownership, renames Dana museum
The western Indiana home in which renowned Hoosier journalist Ernie Pyle was born, and an adjacent museum dedicated to preserving his legacy as a World War II correspondent, have a new owner.
-
Spreading Goodwill
Goodwill Industries Inc. on Tuesday opened its third Terre Haute store.
-
Feds sending money to Feather Creek
Clinton residents have reason to celebrate.
Federal officials have granted more than $800,000 toward a $1.2 million project of widening and deepening Feather Creek, which has been a flooding problem in the city since the Great Depression. Work could begin in spring 2013. -
City to clean up Toney site
A contaminated petroleum site at the northwestern edge of Indiana State University’s campus will be transferred to the city of Terre Haute to remove the property from a pending sale.
-
Bennett: Terre Haute ‘moving in the right direction’
After four years of shrinking budgets and a slow economy, Terre Haute is “moving in the right direction,” Mayor Duke Bennett said Tuesday morning in his first “State of the City” address since being re-elected by Terre Haute voters in November.
Difficult financial and political battles are largely in the past, he said, and now the city can start moving forward in ways not possible in the past four years. -
Terre Haute group locates missing caver
An Iraq war veteran and caving enthusiast took his own life about half a mile from where he left his car on a rural road but more than four months passed before four young spelunkers exploring where they weren’t allowed found him deep inside a treacherous cave, Indiana conservation officers said Tuesday.
-
Schools celebrate rising graduation rates as ‘team effort’
For the fourth year in a row, Vigo County School Corp. graduation rates have topped the state average, school district officials said during a news conference Tuesday.
-
Arrested officer already on administrative leave
A summons to appear in Vigo Superior Court 1 has been issued to the former police chief of West Terre Haute after a theft case filed Monday was transferred from a different court.
-
Parade to honor Punter for N.Y. Giants
A parade has been scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Friday to honor Terre Haute native Steve Weatherford, a punter with the Super Bowl champion New York Giants.
-
DNA match leads to arrest in summer burglary
A recent DNA match in an Indiana database has led to the arrest of a burglary suspect by the Indiana State Police at Putnamville.
-
Authorities still looking into Monday shooting of teen
Investigation continues into a shooting Monday in the 600 block of Water Street, which is near the Wabash River on the city’s west side.
-
General Assembly ready to tackle legislative bottleneck
After a timeout to accommodate out-of-town Super Bowl visitors, the Indiana General Assembly is back in session to tackle legislation that had been bottlenecked by a contentious labor bill.
-
Shakeout helps prepare for earthquake
Drop. Cover. Hold on! Those are the directives for the Great Central U.S. ShakeOut, a multi-state earthquake drill that happened Tuesday morning.
-
Website offers Valley health assessment
• The Wabash Valley Community Health Needs Assessment can be accessed at www.terrehautechamber.com.
It also can be found on the websites of both hospitals. -
Bolte Taylor exhibit will feature 5-foot-tall brains
An Indiana brain scientist whose memoir about her recovery from a stroke became a best-seller has dreamed up an exhibit featuring giant brains that will be mounted around Bloomington this spring.
-
Feather Creek project gets green light from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Federal officials have granted the funding needed to widen Feather Creek in Clinton.
-
Lost Creek trustee exploring possibility of providing computer lab for residents
A mobile computer lab has come to the Lost Creek Township Trustee’s Office to assist the public in job searches and applying for assistance programs.
-
Vigo schools see grad rate rise
The Vigo County School Corp. 2011 graduation rate improved nearly 4 percentage points and surpassed the state graduation rate, according to information from the state Department of Education.
-
Among Super Bowl ads, the stars were the cars
Lots of dogs and babies appeared in commercial advertisements for Super Bowl XLVI, but game-day ads also increasingly are pointing to social media handles, such as Twitter and Facebook.
- More Local & Bistate Headlines








