The Math out of Lake County Indiana (segregated towns of Gary and Hammond) is FISHY

[Leopolds Ghost]

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/06/live-blogging-the-indiana-north-carolina-primaries/

11:58 p.m. | Helloooo, Gary?: We’ve been trying to get a hold of Rudy Clay, the mayor of Gary, Ind. but his voicemail box is full. Hmmm. And yes, he’s a big Obama supporter.

In fact, in March he predicted that Indiana’s primary would be close and that the final tally would come down to … Gary, of all places.

“They are going to point at Indiana and say Hillary Clinton is leading by one point, but Gary ain’t come in yet,” Mr. Clay told a crowd at the opening of an Obama office.

That’s just about the way things have unfolded tonight, although Mrs. Clinton is leading by 3 or 4 points.

Vote-counting is a laborious process. Lake County has about 11,000 absentee votes that need to be counted. The county is not releasing any results in dribs and drabs, as many counties do, but apparently wants to make a statement with all its votes at once.

The world is waiting, Gary. Not Louisiana, Paris, France, New York, or Rome, but Gary, Indiana.

12:12 a.m. | Hanging On: Mrs. Clinton has to be glad she got her speech over with. As this contest goes into the night, the news is only getting grimmer for her, with the possibility that her hopes for a win in Indiana could be diminished.

About 28 percent of the vote from Lake County is in (forget what we said about not coming in in dribs and drabs). Those votes are from Gary and are going 3-1 for Mr. Obama.

Tom McDermott, the mayor of Hammond, which is also in Lake County, is telling CNN that Hammond turned its votes in at 7:30 and Mrs. Clinton was ahead by 600 votes. It’s not clear why Gary is so behind.

“It’s a shame that Lake County is being focused on the way it is now,” Mr. McDermott says, adding that no one knows what’s going on in Gary.

The rest of the grim news: Mr. Obama’s win in North Carolina was a landslide, 57 percent to 41 percent, with 97 percent of precincts in.

1 a.m. | Still Counting: Mayor Rudy Clay of Gary is on the phone with CNN. He says the city had the biggest turnout it has ever had to deal with, including a record number of early voters (11,000). He’s not quite answering the question of why the county didn’t even report partial results earlier. “When we present these figures, they will be correct,” he says. “This should all be over very shortly.”

Now, at 1 a.m., six hours after the polls closed, 56 percent of Lake County results are in. Mr. Obama has 46,000 votes to Mrs. Clinton’s 25,000, or 65 percent to 35 percent.

Well, some say this thing is over. Here was NBC’s Tim Russert at 12:11a.m.: “We now know who the Democratic nominee is going to be, and no one is going to dispute it.” (Thanks to our colleague Brian Stelter for catching the quote!)

1:14 a.m. | Finally, It’s Over: O.K., The Associated Press, CNN and others are calling Indiana for Senator Clinton, in what looks like a narrow 50.9-to-49.1 split.

But it’s been a long night, with internecine warfare among Indiana politicians playing out as impatience took hold. The mayor of Hammond was back on air on CNN, feuding with Mayor Clay of Gary, Ind.

Mayor McDermott of Hammond called the delay in Gary results fishy. “It makes it look as if something corrupt may be happening,” he says. “It looks improper.”

Mayor Clay declared: “There is no hanky panky going on here in Lake County.”

Meanwhile, 98 percent of the vote in Lake County came in, with Mr. Obama winning 66,265 votes to Mrs. Clinton’s 53, 310, or 55 percent to 45 percent. She’s still ahead statewide, with 51 percent of the vote.

NBC is calling Mrs. Clinton the “apparent winner.”

OK, logic puzzle here:

Gary and Hammond are totally segregated. Gary is nearly all-black, Hammond is nearly all-white. Guess which mayor endorsed who?

With 95% in statewide, Obama was behind by 16,000 votes.

(including only 25% of Lake County, reputedly all from half of Gary
where returns posted the entire early returns for Lake County as 75-25% Obama, per CNN)

Chuck Todd said he was afraid the Mayor of Hammond's comment sounded familiar, and seemed saddened and disgusted, saying that whoever released returns first, the other mayor might make up the difference Chicago-fashion. This is a SERIOUS PRACTICE there.

The 25% of Lake County was reputedly from Gary, where the Mayor said Obama was ahead 3-1 citywide.

The late returns were reputedly from Hammond, where the Mayor said Clinton was ahead by 500 votes,
plus the remaining half of Gary vote where Obama was running 3-1.

When the remainder of Lake County as a whole came in,

Clinton jumped from being 16,000 ahead to 22,000 ahead statewide (final tally).

Lake County as a whole voted 55-45 for Obama.

Hammond, as mentioned was reputedly Clinton by 500 votes
according to the mayor before they posted up (because the two mayors
were playing chicken to see who posted first), while the initial
returns from Lake County, mostly Gary were 75-25 Obama
with 95% statewide reporting, when Obama was 16,000 votes behind.

Does this math make sense to you?