Indiana: Things To Know

A reader writes:

As you watch results come in, important to know this: 

Indiana has 72 delegates...47 will be decided by results in congressional districts. There are 9 congressional districts.

In congressional districts 1, 2, 7, 8 and 9 there are 6 delegates each. These delegates will be split 3-3 -- you need to win 58 percent or higher in order to get a 4-2 split. So that means all Obama has to do is hold Hillary to 58 percent or lower in each district and they split. Which means he stays ahead. 

(Cong district 1 is Lake County up near Chicago, 2 is the South Bend area, 7 is Indianapolis, 8 is the SW quandrant and 9 is the SE quandrant.)

Districts 3 (North Central Indiana), 4 (West Central) -- both strong Hillary areas -- and 5 (Eastern and Northern suburbs of Indianapolis (a tossup) have four delegates each. These delegates are also split 2-2. In these districts, in order to get a 3-1 split, the winner has to get 65% or higher! So Obama's task is even easier/Hillary's task is even more difficult there.

District 6 (Eastern edge of state...Muncie, Anderson, Richmond, also suburbs of Fort Wayne and Cincinatti) has 5 delegates. Winner there gets 3 out of 5. That is a district to watch tonight because it can be a tie-breaker.

The other 25 delegates are mayors and other elected party officials who go the way of their districts, and of course the superdelegates.

So far Clinton and Obama have pretty much split them -- but the good news for Obama is, of the three remaining undecided superdelegates, rumor has it all three are eager to go with Obama if given even the slightest excuse.