Wright holds little sway in Indianapolis enclave

By Monica Davey

updated 9:33 p.m. ET May 2, 2008

INDIANAPOLIS - In the cafes, gift stores and the gourmet dog biscuit shop in this city’s neighborhood of Broad Ripple Village, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.’s name draws all sorts of responses — sighs, rolling eyes, laughter, grim silence.

But many people, like Clyde H. Crockett, a retired law professor who was sipping a drink in a coffee shop here on Thursday, said his thoughts about Mr. Wright would have no bearing on his decision — still unfinished — about whom to vote for in Indiana’s Democratic primary on Tuesday.

“Why should it?” Mr. Crockett said. “No one should be tainted because of Reverend Wright.”

The shoppers in Broad Ripple and in the neighborhoods nearby reflect a demographic group — mostly white, highly educated, professional, artsy, relatively well-off, politically independent — that has leaned toward Senator Barack Obama in other states and one that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton will hope to gain an edge with here, in a state that polls show as almost evenly split.

But in interviews here on Thursday, voters said Mr. Wright’s highly publicized comments and the responses and echoes that have followed had had little bearing on them.

‘An excuse not to vote for Obama’?
Supporters of both Democratic candidates said that they did not think the Wright episode should change the race but said, again and again, that they feared it might in other, less cosmopolitan areas of Indiana where they thought people might be searching for some acceptable explanation for not voting for a black candidate.

Mr. Crockett, who said he was leaning ever so slightly toward Mr. Obama over Mrs. Clinton, his wife’s preferred candidate, said he worried that Mr. Obama’s ties to his former pastor could harm him among voters in the far southern part of the state, the small towns, the more conservative enclaves.

“I think Reverend Wright will give a lot of people an excuse not to vote for Obama,” Mr. Crockett said. “They’re looking for an excuse, and this will be it.”

Many here said they were disturbed by Mr. Wright’s views, and some quickly ticked off those they saw as most puzzling. Among them: a suggestion that the United States was capable of using the AIDS virus to commit genocide against minorities.

“It makes me sick,” said Linda K. Stephenson, 57, who is supporting Mrs. Clinton but says she “completely separates” Mr. Obama, whom she likes, from Mr. Wright. “I think he may be crazy. I really do.”

M. Shane Wolff, 40, who said he generally voted Republican, said Mr. Wright had “really slammed America,” adding quickly, “Midwestern and Indiana folks do not like that.”

Did denunciation come too late?
Others here were less put off. Some said they found Mr. Wright’s comments provocative; others viewed them as an overblown distraction to the bigger issues of the economy, health care and gasoline prices.

Most people interviewed also said they wished Mr. Obama had distanced himself from Mr. Wright more firmly, more rapidly. Many said they admired Mr. Obama’s emotional words on Tuesday, but wondered why they had not come sooner. Waiting seemed “passive,” several said.

Still, no one interviewed here said that Mr. Wright had affected how they or anyone they knew would vote. Michael B. O’Connor, the Democratic Party chairman for Marion County, which includes Indianapolis, said he had heard of no major shifts.

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“People that are supporting Obama are continuing to support Obama,” said Mr. O’Connor, who has endorsed Mrs. Clinton though the county party has made no official pick. “I think they are looking at this with raised eyebrows about the attention it’s getting, but not from the perspective of changing their view of who to support.”

Marion County, which John Kerry narrowly won in 2004 (50.5 percent to 48.6 percent) while George W. Bush won the state with 60 percent of the vote, is expected to be an important battleground for Mr. Obama.

Looking for a deciding factor
Several undecided voters interviewed said that they were looking for a reason to go one way or another, but that Mr. Wright would most certainly not be it. “That has no bearing on my decision,” Jess McKinney, 31, said, adding that he was leaning “51-to-49” for Mr. Obama.

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Another undecided voter, Ronald Rockey, 57, said his choice would not be affected by Mr. Wright, though he said he was sure that other voters might be affected. “It’s a volatile issue and some people will worry,” Mr. Rockey said.

Most everyone spoke of so-called Hoosiers — somewhere to the south, somewhere rural, somewhere other than here — who might be troubled.

“We’re a fairly conservative state,” said Laura L. Green, 50, a social worker and supporter of Mr. Obama. “Look, some people struggle with his name. For someone who is on the fence, this could touch them.”

This article, Minister’s Comments Hold Little Sway in Indianapolis Enclave, originally appeared in The New York Times.

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