The Obama campaign has received some great press recently on the investment and presence he supposedly has in Indiana.  As for McCain, he is being attacked for taking Indiana for granted and is accused of having no presence here, despite the fact that his Midwest regional team is led by Hoosier native, and former executive director of the Republican Party, Jennifer Hallowell. 

As proof of Obama’s dedication to the Hoosier state, his website lists 14 offices that he currently has opened in Indiana.  Impressive.  One would think that Obama really does care about Indiana, that it’s a battleground state, and he’s invested considerable resources in office space and staff to compete here.

One would be wrong.

A visual survey of a majority of the Obama offices around the state reveals that they are nothing more than an assortment of vacant spaces, offices for other candidates, and county party headquarters.  In other words, the Obama presence in Indiana is a myth, a campaign of smoke and mirrors designed to give the impression that Indiana is up for grabs and Obama is investing millions to win here.

In Lake County, for example, the Obama campaign has taken up residence in Congressman Visclosky’s headquarters.  In South Bend, Obama is housed in the St. Joe County democrat headquarters.  In New Albany, he’s shacking up with Baron Hill.  In Evansville, he’s sharing space with Congressman Ellsworth and Jill Long Thompson.    

Having statewide candidates leech onto local offices for grassroots support is nothing new, republicans do it all the time.  But if a candidate’s commitment to Indiana is going to be measured in office space and investment, then John McCain’s commitment to Indiana dwarfs that of Barack Obama. 

If simply hanging a sign on the side of a building and laying out some bumper stickers counts as having an "Indiana office", then Sen. McCain has offices in the counties of Hendricks, Allen, Madison, Dubois, LaPorte, Wayne, Marion, Vanderburgh, Hamilton, and every other county GOP headquarters and republican candidate office in the state. 

The Obama campaign does a great job of hyping up nothing and getting the press to run with it.  They did it yesterday with Bayh, and they’ve been doing it for weeks by telling Hoosiers that Obama’s presence in Indiana is strong and the evidence is in the offices he’s opened.  There’s nothing wrong with combining space and joining grassroots efforts, it’s what campaigns with limited resources should do to make the biggest impact.  That’s why county offices throughout the state are helping in the effort to elect McCain and every down-ballot republican this year.  But to claim that the Obama campaign is launching some unprecedented effort in Indiana, rather than piggybacking on the party that’s already here, is dishonest and misleading.