Below The Beltway

There seems to be some speculation this morning that Barack Obama may be announcing his Vice-Presidential selection within the next day or two, and that Indiana Senator Evan Bayh is the man:

Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama will stop in Indiana this Wednesday at Concord High School in Elkhart, setting Hoosier political observers aflutter with renewed veepstakes speculation. The visit, confirmed to HPI by Second Congressional District Chairman Butch Morgan, could be to announce the selection of Senator Evan Bayh as Obama’s running mate. He would not say whether Bayh would be in attendance. Democratic sources say Secret Service is working out details with local police that would include a motorcade. The event in Elkhart would draw media coverage in nearby Michigan. Sources say the details appear to be different than a normal presidential candidate visit. Other Democratic sources contend that the visit has been prompted simply by the spike in the county’s unemployment rate following the closure of the Monaco plant, and that veepstakes buzz continues to swirl around Virginia Governor Tim Kaine. HPI reported last week that one informed and reliable Democratic source had indicated that a Vice Presidential selection was imminent, and would be made “within 72 hours” and announced this week.

MSNBC’s Chuck Todd says that Obama will arrive in South Bend, Indiana late this afternoon and isn’t scheduled to leave until almost 24 hours later, which seems like an awfully long time to spend in one part of a relatively small state on a regular campaign stop.

As I’ve noted before, Obama is polling fairly well in Indiana, which has gone Republican in every election since 1968 and, with the exception of LBJ’s landslide in 1964, hadn’t voted Republican since FDR defeated Alf Landon in a landslide in 1936. And, last month, began a campaign to contest the state that, so far at least, the McCain campaign isn’t responding to:

The election is four months away, but for now the score in Indiana is Barack Obama, 6; John McCain, 0.

Zero campaign offices, that is.

Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, has opened five campaign offices — in Evansville, Fishers, Fort Wayne, Muncie and South Bend — and will open a sixth in Bloomington on Monday.

Jonathan Swain, a spokesman for Obama’s campaign in Indiana, said plans are to have 25 to 30 campaign offices in the state.

It’s part of a push by Obama to become the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Indiana’s electoral votes since Lyndon Johnson did so in 1964.

In addition to the offices, Obama has run campaign ads in Indiana — one of 18 targeted states in which he has done so — and has brought in staff to run the campaign here.

McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, is taking a different approach to Indiana.

Some might call it confident; some might call it laid-back at best.

Asked whether the campaign has any plans to open an office in Indiana, campaign spokeswoman Leah Yoon — who is based in Michigan, not Indiana — had a one-word answer: “No.”

Given that recent polls show the race in the traditionally red Hoosier State to be a statistical tie, one could call that response to be an example of arrogance, denial, or a combination of both.

In either case, Indiana is already in play and selecting Bayh, a popular Senator and former Governor and a member of one of the state’s most politically active families could push it further toward Obama and cause even more problems for McCain in November.