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Sanders opens Indiana HQ, other candidates to follow

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The 2016 presidential campaign has arrived in Indiana.

Democrat Bernie Sanders has opened a campaign headquarters in Broad Ripple.

Pete D’Alessandro, the Indiana state director for Sanders, is planning a big presence here.

“We’ll have at least seven or eight other offices besides this one throughout the state,” he said.

Sanders volunteers are energized, and 100 of them, including Shannon Anderson, gathered on Saturday to canvas voters in Indianapolis.

“It’s very exciting when Indiana gets a chance to play a pivotal role in a race like this,” she said.

Plans for a Hillary Clinton Indiana headquarters are in the works.

On the Republican side, Donald Trump likes to talk about an Indiana issue.

“So I tell the head of Carrier,” he said at a recent rally, “every single unit that you make in Mexico and you sell in the United States, we’re going to put a 35 percent tax on that unit.”

But he still has no organization in the Hoosier state.

A local attorney is helping to put together a Ted Cruz organization here.

And back at Sanders headquarters, there is a lot of talk about how no other state will hold a primary on May 3.

“I think a lot of people are going to be watching,” said D’Alessandro, “and it could be the catapult from Indiana to California and the later primaries, so it’s going to be very important.”

Nine states will hold primaries or caucuses before we get to the May 3 Indiana primary. It means the landscape could still shift significantly between now and then.

Even so, odds are now good that both the Republican and the Democratic nominations will still be undecided.