Published: October 30, 2008 12:54 am         

Obama to visit state, but not Boone

Visit to Boone County not in campaign’s plan

Lebanon — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama plans a return to Indiana with a campaign stop in Lake County Friday.

An Obama staffer Wednesday told the Lebanon Reporter that the senator will make an appearance Wicker Memorial Park in Highland at 7:30 p.m. Central Daylight Time.

Rumors have been circulating in Boone County that Obama would make an appearance in the Boone County area sometime Friday. On Wednesday afternoon, the staffer said Obama was going to be in Lake County, and that the senator had no plans to visit Boone County.

Wednesday evening, Lebanon Police Department Public Information Officer Lt. Brent Wheat said the police department had not been contacted by Obama’s campaign regarding any plans for a visit. While LPD received only 24 hours advanced notice when former President Bill Clinton came to the city earlier this year, Wheat said he would have expected the department to be given more lead time if Obama were to visit, because of the heightened security for the senator in the wake of thwarted assassination plans in recent days.

In fact, Wheat said, the department has not been contacted about any major political figure planning to make an appearance in the area between now and the election.

Obama’s last stop in Indiana was Thursday, when he held a rally in downtown Indianapolis. The stop in northwestern Indiana will put him in what is a stronghold for Democrats.

Friday’s rally will be Obama’s eighth Indiana appearance since mid-July as his campaign makes the strongest Democratic push in decades for the state’s electoral votes.

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has a rally set for Wednesday evening in Jeffersonville, while Obama’s running mate, Joe Biden, will campaign in Evansville Saturday.

     

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