Here we go again.  We're about a week before the next presidential primaries, and the race is in a dead heat.  North Carolina is tightening, and Hillary Clinton picked up the endorsement of the governor of the state, Mike Easley.  It looks like it's too little, too late, but it should keep Obama supporters in NC from feeling too complacent.

This time around though, Indiana is the big prize.  If I may, I'd like to make a suggestion to Indiana Democrats: vote for Barack Obama.  I'm not going to give you the normal laundry list of reasons why he is the better candidate; no, I'm suggesting that you vote for Obama for your own self interest. Vote for Obama so that your votes are relevant.

Pennsylvania.  Ohio and Texas.  Even New Hampshire.  These contests came and went as the possible final stop for Hillary Clinton's campaign.  Let's be fair, she has won when she needed to.  The disgusting tactics she uses against a fellow Democrat are a different story (and a different post).  My point is more that no one talks about these contests anymore.  The math not only favors Obama, it assures him of eventual victory.  If you, Indianans, give Clinton the victory by even one vote, the fight will continue and you will be forgotten.  You'll hear the media say "on to Oregon, Montana, South Dakota", etc.  By contrast, a win for Obama would make history and could not be forgotten.

Why should you care? Indiana is the most predictably Republican state in the union.  If Clinton were to win, it is highly unlikely that she would try to challenge McCain in a state that has voted for a Democrat just once for President in the last 70 years.  Obama on the other hand, is leading McCain by as many as 9 points in some polls.  Those numbers will tighten, but they assure a tightly contested battle between Obama and McCain, where the issues that are important to Indianans will be front and center.

Let me use an analogy that I think many Hoosiers will understand. We're in the last few seconds of the fourth quarter.  If you can sink that jumpshot, the game is over.  If you don't, then we go to overtime, but this is an overtime where no one wins, and all Democrats lose.

For more coverage on the Indiana primary, check out BrownEyes' piece, Hillary and Senator Bayh trying to keep others from endorsing Barack.