Battleground State Profile: Indiana

State Data:

2008 Primary Results:

Hillary Clinton: 51%

Barack Obama: 49%

John McCain: 77%

Mike Huckabee: 10%

Ron Paul: 8%

2004 Election Results:

George W. Bush: 59.94%

John Kerry: 39.26%

2000 Election Results:

George W. Bush: 56.65%

Al Gore: 41.01%

Racial Breakdown:

White: 85.8%

Black: 8.4%

Hispanic: 3.5%

Other: 2.2%

Income:

Under 25k: 27.8%

25-50k: 31.6%

50-100k: 31.6%

Over 100k: 9.2%

Education:

Less than H.S.: 17.9%

H.S. or Higher: 82.1%

BA or Higher: 19.4%

Grad/Prof Deg: 7.2%

Indiana

Indiana, which hasn't gone Democratic since 1964, has long been considered a reliably red state, but there is a very real prospect that the Hoosier State's 11 electoral votes could go to Barack Obama this year. The presumptive Democratic nominee lost the state's early-April primary to Hillary Clinton, but the margin was closer than expected and Indiana is right next door to Obama's home state. It won't be easy but he could be the first Democrat to take Indiana since Lyndon Johnson.

Early polls suggest a close race, which alone is somewhat remarkable: President Bush took Indiana by 21 percentage points in 2004 and 16 points in 2000. McCain's Indiana co-chair suggests the presumptive GOP nominee will benefit from the fact that the Republican Party has stronger infrastructure in the state than the Democrats do, but a majority of the state's congressional seats are now Democratic, which means that the Democrats should be competitive when it comes to fundraising and organization.

It won't be easy but he could be the first Democrat to take Indiana since Lyndon Johnson.

The Obama campaign has high hopes for Indiana and can count on strong support in places like Gary, where the population is overwhelmingly black and which sits in the Chicago media market. He has been advertising in the state even as McCain has stayed off the air. The outcome could ultimately come down to which candidate's economic message resonates, as the U.S. economic downturn has hit Indiana (along with neighboring industrial states) particularly hard, pushing voters towards a focus on domestic economic issues.

• CBS Evening News: The New GOP Push For Indiana

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