Vincennes Vandalism Slows Us Down Not at All

The Vincennes Obama headquarters was the victim of an unfortunate episode of vandalism early Monday morning just before primary election day. Office manager David Van Rooy rushed to scene to meet with Police and assess the damage.

Ethnic slurs and derogatory comments were spray-painted on the unbroken glass, including a circle with a line through it over Senator Obama’s face that hung on a poster in the window.

We realize that this hate-inspired event does not represent Vincennes, Knox County, and especially not Indiana. Hoosiers are friendly and respectful even to those with whom they disagree, and this is all the more shocking because of that.

When volunteers saw the damage, they were all the more energized, and went out canvassing telling friends and neighbors that we as Hoosiers know better than to let something like this get us down or make us think less of who we are or of Senator Obama.

In fact, Knox county proved the vandals wrong by far exceeding expectations on primary election day, returning 33% (3260 votes) for Obama. That may not seem like a good result, but the expectations were that he would get considerably less than that.

The incident has been reported in many major news outlets including CNN, MSNBC, Wonkette, Politico, The Daily Kos, The Chicago Tribune, as well as local news in Evansville and Terre Haute. The Vincennes Sun-Commercial reported the story in the Police blotter along with a bicycle theft.

Photos courtesy Ray McCormick.