The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 94

Section Campaign notebook ttS mi 'A Subject: Hoosier voters, an unusual breed The Indiunupolis Star SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 19S4 WVC-. 'lK Bk m. -m -V 'X rv- 5 ii, Beginning this Sunday, and for every Sunday until the Nov. 6 election, the Campaign Notebook will appear in the Spectrum section. The Notebook is designed to be removed from the newspaper and retained for reference and review throughout the campaign.

Each week the Notebook will examine one of the many elements affecting the affairs of the State of Indiana and the selection of the state's next governor and lieutenant governor. PUT DO THEY really think of themselves that way? House Majority Leader Richard M. Del-linger, Noblesville, doesn't think so. "I've always been of the opinion that probably there's a little edge on the side of the Democrats as far as if you were to ask a person, 'Are you a registered Democrat or he says. "I think our polls show it turns out there are more people who say they're Democrats than (say they're) Republicans." And that perception is reinforced by figures compiled in April by Indiana University's Center for Survey Research as part of its "Indiana Poll." OME 36 percent of the 800 persons sur- veyed in that poll considered themselves Democrats, 30 percent said they were Republicans and 27 percent said they were independents.

William M. Schreiber, administrative assistant for the Indiana House of Representatives Democratic Caucus, says the independents are the key. "I think, in terms of self -description, there are more Democrats than Republicans, but the 25 to 30 percent who describe themselves as independents tend to vote Republican by habit," Schreiber says. By VIC CALECA And PATRICK J. TRAUB The Star's Election Bureau NDIANA, to all appearances, is a freak of political nature.

With its heavy concentration of steel plants and auto-related factories, it should be a typical Midwest industrial state. But in 1982 a year in which a deep economic recession rocked the Midwest and helped Democrats knock off GOP incumbents all across the nation Indiana remained staunchly Republican. In this supposedly industrial state, which Democrats presumably should be able count as part of their power base. Republicans have won 15 of the last 16 elections to statewide offices. Hardly a result you'd expect in a "typical" industrial state.

But then, Indiana's far from typical. The Almanac of American Politics, 1984 published by The National Journal puts it this way: "Politics in Indiana in the 1980s is out of sync with the rest of the country." HERE ARE, experts say, a variety of factors that set Indiana apart from its Midwestern neighbors. Where most states of Indiana's size boast cities with significant concentrations of young, single people, Indiana doesn't. Where most of its regional neighbors have large cities characterized by distinct ethnic neighborhoods, Indiana doesn't. At a time when most political ma- chines long since have died, Indiana's hasn't.

Of all these factors, the last may be the most significant. Indiana's Republican organization probably is one of the most formidable political machines of this century. "i- it, 5 ,1 'Hill "fcfHiJ BMMHbnmiifiB frnmm ifi iiw.t.Mfeafcfc Star phot Prank Eipich Labor Day honors everyone None of which is to say that Indiana can't elect any Democrats. State Auditor Otis E. Cox, after all, is a Democrat and he JOSEPH 5 NOBLE DEKALB i won in 1982 the first Democrat to win a statewide race since the 8TABKE 5 ALIEN Republican disaster of Watergate collar at all, American workers have given this country's average citizen a living standard unmatched anywhere else.

And though many of the country's industries are going through a painful period of readjustment, this still is the land of opportunity, the place where hard work is worth more than high birth and where what one knows still matters more than whom one knows. A Hoosier welder, anonymous behind his patriotically decorated protective mask, creates his own fireworks in anticipation of Labor Day. Whether he spends tomorrow marching with his brothers and sisters of the labor movement in the annual parade downtown or relaxing on the patio with a tall, cool drink, this American worker and his counterparts have earned this holiday honoring "everyday people." Blue collar, white collar, pink collar or no in 1974. And, although the Democrats haven't held the governor's office since 1968, their candidates do run respectably. And even Republicans say the state Democratic organization is strong com pared with organizations in other Poltergeist's tricks on teen puzzle pros states.

In each election since 1960, for example, the Democratic candidate for governor has received at least 900,000 votes. The most any Republican has ever received in those races was Gov. Robert D. Orr's 1.25 million in 1980. T) EMOCRATS, in fact, may have a stronger party identifi cation and loyalty than Republicans.

In addition to public opinion polls, the number of persons who have loyalty to a party can be measured by how they vote in Indiana primaries. In a primary election, a voter 8 5 S-Vl PULASKI pJWHITE I CASS 2 iiSr 1 II 3 I lORAHT 1,1 TPPE- HOWRO JZ JAY jjjjjjtjj- CANOE fo am vtooJ i A Ufc f- 1 FRANKLIN mrthoT I 11 L0MEW 4y i Lr i I ORANOE J- LA iois perryLjharri-( LAKE 5 4 5 sJd 4 owm Kir I STABKt 8 I ,1 ALLEN I I wtw 1 ri hIT jJwMITIjcASf, 3 1 benton a 1 1 li 1 want Tm- hooabo JAY" wSiiSiir 2 IT jFj I cunw lar JAhr MOWBANy I FRANKLIN must publicly declare which par ty he or she plans to vote for in the fall election. Election officials can require a voter to swear under penalty of perjury that the voter will cast more than half But out of the corner of his eye he watched Tina, who was chatting with a reporter. Suddenly, he glimpsed a white flash. The phone.

Got it. "Strange Happenings Unnerve Family" screamed the headline in the March 6, 1984, Dispatch; Shannon's photograph ran underneath in color, and within days, John and Joan Resch and their adopted daughter Tina had become plan-etwide celebrities among those who believe in the unseen, the unknown and the unspeakable. AT AN. DEMONS. Exorcists.

The Bad Seed. The Resch family father John, mother Joan, and six kids, including Tina had entered a strange area, a zone somewhere between the goofy and the loathsome. Their tale offers no middle There are really only two possible conclusions. Both are ludicrous. Conclusion One holds that a 14-year-old girl is possessed of a chaotic power over which the known laws of physics have no jurisdiction, a power that can make heavy objects like stuffed chairs tumble end over end and chase people around the house, a power that has perhaps gorje so far as to cause eggs to pass through a closed refrigerator door and spatter against the ceiling.

The world, says this first view, is rife with the paranormal. Conclusion Two holds that this same girl got her picture on the front page of newspapers around the globe because she managed literally through child's play to convince her parents, family friends, religious leaders, psychologists and innumerable journalists to adopt Conclusion One. People, goes this second theory, will swallow anything. A BEGUILING notion, ghosts. We want to believe in them.

Reality never has been very satisfying, and ghosts suggest an entire unseen world, even an afterlife. But scientists the same scientists who have had no problem telling us that everyone descended from an inorganic lump of matter that somehow got really fired up several billion years ago have had a problem confronting ghosts. Dr. Robert Jahn, who has studied paranormal phenomena as dean of the Engineering See POLTERGEIST Page 2 of his or her votes for a certain party in the November general election. That declaration of party preference scares many voters away about half of them, in fact.

But, the half who appear at the polls tend to be Democrats. Since 1976, there have been 11 statewide primaries. In those elections, Democrats outvoted By JOEL ACHENBACH KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS POLUMBUS, Ohio Fred Shannon sensed it, something across the room, something inhuman. An entity. Or more like an "aura." This strange force surrounded Tina, the 14-year-old haunted girl in whose presence telephones flew through the air, chairs danced, glasses shattered.

Tina, the creepy girl with The Power. Fred Shannon, 63, had never been so scared in his life. A photographer for three decades with the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, a devout Catholic, a believer in God and the Devil, he knew this was no ordinary photo assignment. This was a horror story. Seven times, Shannon later recalled, he saw a.

telephone zoom through the family room of the house on Blue Ash Road. A Kleenex box appeared to hurtle from one table to another. A candle went airborne with the sound of a freight train. A rug leaped off the floor and draped itself over Tina's head. To Shannon's frustration, he couldn't get a good picture.

The aura-entity was shy it kept doing things when he wasn't looking. It was trying, he felt, to outwit HIS THING did not want to 4 be photographed," he remembers. "I felt whatever that force was, was conscious of what I was trying to do I decided I was going to outfox the ghost." He wanted to get that phone, that flying phone. Peering through the lens at Tina, he set his camera and then slowly lowered it to waist level, shutter finger still poised. The veteran photographer turned to his left, as though off guard.

Republicans seven times. In two of the races where Republicans outvoted Democrats, more Dem See NOTEBOOK Page 2 offices, one ot several minor county posts often used to mea sure straight line, party voting Some recorders were elected in 1980, others in 1982. In contrast, Index To BtUM 'Ain't 'Fraida No Ghosts: 2 'Real-Live Missourians' Take On Entire Spirit World Page 3 Book World Page 4 Bridge, Cappy Dick 5 Crossword Puzzle Columns and Editorials Pages 6, 7 bottom map shows that in 1980 Republican Gov. Robert D. Orr OIBSON 15- iSsX won all but 17 of the state 92 counties (shaded areas)..