Sen. Obama plans Saturday campaign stop in Indianapolis

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By Beth Boehne

Story Created: Mar 12, 2008 at 12:08 PM EST

Story Updated: Mar 12, 2008 at 5:54 PM EST

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama will visit Indianapolis Saturday trying to gain an early foothold in a state whose 72 delegates will play an important role in who grabs the Democratic nomination.

Indiana holds its presidential primary on May 6, and the state could help decide the presidential nominee for the first time in 40 years.

With the important Pennsylvania contest six weeks away, Obama is playing down his chances there, even though a victory would effectively finish his opponent, Hillary Rodham Clinton. His aides are emphasizing instead the need to campaign in Indiana, North Carolina and other presumably friendlier states that will vote even later.

The campaign expects Indiana to be a battleground because of its large black population and the fact that the northern part of the state is in the Chicago media market, where the Illinois senator is often on TV and in the news. But Indiana also has a significant blue-collar population and Evan Bayh, the state's senator and former governor, will actively campaign for Clinton.

The New York senator, meanwhile, is banking heavily on Pennsylvania. A solid win here could sustain her claim to late-season momentum and the ability to win big, industrial states.

Overall, Obama had 1,598 delegates, including separately chosen party and elected officials known as superdelegates. Clinton had 1,487, according to an Associated Press count. It takes 2,025 delegates to secure the Democratic nomination for president.

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