By KEVIN NEVERS

Hillary Clinton won Porter County by a far larger margin than she did the State of Indiana, in a primary where more than 80 percent of voters pulled Democratic ballots.

In Porter County Clinton polled 20,759 votes or 58.05 percent, to Barack Obama’s 15,001 votes or 41.95 percent.

In Duneland Clinton also ran very strong, winning all but five of the 26 precincts for which results were available this morning. She lost Westchester 1, 6, 7, and 14, and Pine 2. The Chesterton Tribune did not have access to the results from Westchester 3 and 10.

With all but nine of Indiana’s 5,230 precincts counted, however, Clinton beat Obama by only 18,444 votes statewide or a slim 1.45 percent, taking 641,734 ballots to Obama’s 623,290.

In Porter County Jill Long Thompson similarly steamrolled Jim Schellinger in the race for the Democratic nomination for governor, while winning statewide by only a wafer-thin margin. Long Thompson polled a total of 570,320 votes in the state, to Schellinger’s 563,173, again with all but nine of Indiana’s 5,230 precincts counted, a margin of 7,147 votes or 0.63 percent.

In Porter County, on the other hand, Long Thompson took 19,847 votes or 61.70 percent, to Schellinger’s 12,319 votes or 38.30 percent.

In Duneland Long Thompson clobbered Schellinger, winning every one of the 26 precincts for which results were available.

Republicans

The tardy Lake County only just began reporting early this morning when the pundits had already declared Clinton’s putative Indiana win a effectual loss, given the unexpected closeness of the race. Presumably Obama will face U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in the fall. In Porter County McCain took 5,841 votes or 74.64 percent of the total; Ron Paul, 1,018 votes or 13.01 percent; Mike Huckabee, 638 votes or 8.15 percent; and Mitt Romney 329 or 4.20 percent.

If Long Thompson’s lead holds, she will face incumbent Gov. Mitch Daniels, who ran unopposed. Daniels took 5,696 votes in Porter County.

Turnout

In Porter County turnout totaled 41.08 percent, as 44,070 of the registered 107,275 voters cast ballots.

Of those 44,070 a ballots an extraordinary 81.77 percent, or 36,037, were Democratic ones. Only 18.21 percent of the voters, or 8,026, pulled Republican ballots. Seven voters cast nonpartisan ballots.

Turnout was likewise high in Duneland, with a high of 50.66 percent in Westchester 15 and a low of 31.53 percent in Liberty 2, of the 26 precincts for which results were available. Those 26 precincts averaged a respectable turnout of 41.95 percent.

Posted 5/7/2008