Journal and Courier from Lafayette, Indiana • 3

2nd District history 'ithian makes The ithians' moment of triumph Wed Nov 3 I ithian win cheers Demos i 1 Area Republicans roaring and 1 Hartke 6142 Bowen 8706 1' 4 ord 5066 and Carter' 4089 Hartke 3665 Bowen 5273 ii I repeat every now and then Rep loyd ithian would be Carter 1906 Bowen 2514 tion that Lu and Lu and The whole ithian family lined up Tuesday night in the National Guard Armory in Lafayette to celebrate Congressman loyd re election to the 2nd District House seat rom left they are Judy John the congress i Lu and Carter 2813 Bowen 3979 Lu and Lu and WARREN: ord 2377 and gar 2537 and Hartke 1701 Conrad 1704 ERWIN SAID hoped the campaign would have been more de voted to issues and he was dis turbed about the advantages of the franking privilege to an incumbent think the whole campaign pro cess is something going to have to look at in the years to he said As for his own fu ture he said think for the next few weeks and months like to do some of the living we done in a long WHITE: ord 6287 and Carter 3963 Lugar6674 and Hartke 3456 Bowen 6927 and Con 'Did our best' says Erwin oi congressional race loss with election newspaper stories hits ithian governor supports the headlines said One article showed a picture of six young girls Erwin The bulletin board was next to a large picture of Erwin with gress needs Will written above it just heard that the Lake County figures might not be re leased until after 9 the radio announcer said want to wait and see how many votes they a woman said laughing man his wife Marjorie and Cindy The ithians were cheered by several hundred people when they entered the armory for the post election celebration (Staff Photo by David Snodgress) 1' 2 BELIEVE the way to get the government to the people is to go to A the he said and he prom ised to continue his program of town meetings around the district Erwin conceded around 9:30 pm and called ithian at the Armory to read him a telegranvof con gratulations won a strong victory in a strong he told ithian Erwin said he overcome the fact that ithian was well known around the district because of his very high and his use of the congressional franking privilege to get mailings out to con stituents noticed that very early he said had a high voter iden tification This made it a difficult campaign from that standpoint vote There were novsuch statistics being posted at Erwin headquarters Those that were up showed ithian with a small lead an Erwin aide said at one point ASK (radio) keeps saying ahead but we get any Erwin spent most of the evening in a small back room where the to tals were being called in He came out occasionally to talk to his sup porters who every now and then went to a bulletin board cluttered DEEAT also was a defeat for the effort by Republican leaders to slate a candidate last year to run against ithian Erwin was the slating choice although he had to overcome opposi tion in the primary buf his cam paign never got off the ground apd never engendered much enthusiasm ithian reason tor his victory was years of hard service and getting people He set out two years ago to maintain close con tact with the voters and to spend as much time in the district as possible and he fulfilled that goal By JOHN NORBERG Staff Writer Republican congressional candi date Will Erwin and his family through a small group of supporters at his 3rd St headquar ters here at 10:45 pm Tuesday 3 There were no cheers There were no tears He kept pausing to personally thank his1 campaign workers just one last time and his wife tugged at of his coat smiling" encouraging him to the motor home waiting outside the one with his name emblazoned across it he finally said grin ningj thank or the Republican candidate over one year of work and the vic tory hehad dreamed about were over Erwin lost the contest for con gressman from the 2nd District to incumbent loyd ithian The unoffi cial vote was 141889 to 110014 American Party candidate James Logan received 1673 the beginning I felt the only important thing was that we give it our his wife June had said earlier in the evening while some hopeful arid some confident eyes watched the precinct votes begin to i come in I drove home last night I just relaxed and said I feel we did give it the best we could she said all re elected by 555 per cent of the they can ask trom you However it comes out I feel we Small groups of well wishers stopped by the headquarters throughout the night Sometimes as many as were there Sometimes there were less than 20 The people nibbled on hors sipped champagne punch and laughed and talked while they i watched results on a small tele vision and watched the big board where the 2nd District congressional totals were being listed And they listened to a radio sta the people are apathetic and the country has fal tered under Republican leadership apathy like everyone said she said The strong percentages for the top Republi cans was also found in Montgomery ountain Clinton Jasper Pulaski White Carroll Benton Newton and Warren counties ord Lugar and Bowen won in each IN WHITE COUNTY Bowen more than dou bled the vote of Democrat Larry Conrad In Tip 4 And by the time ithian arrived qt about 10 pm to give a brief victory speech the group of supporters were there to cheer Then several dozen youngsters kept ithian busy autographing their freshly printed signs which proclaimed family for THE LAST DEMOCRAT before ithian to win the 2nd District seat was George Durgan of Lafayette in 1932 But Durgan win re election and the district was Re publican for: the next 40 years until ithian defeated Earl Landgrebe in 1974 i i Some of local campaign workers were pleased that he held ithian to a 4400 vote margin in Tippecanoe County and City Clerk Marjorie Griffith said feel this being home county we didvery well: very disturbed about the other The other counties Erwin lost in cluded his own Marshall County where ithian won by about 400 votes Erwin said he work very hard there a decision he said subject to some debate during the campaign My feeling was that we should have spent more time people had hoped for a close win of a few thousand votes but wheri such counties as Pulaski and Cass came in with poor results they could see the outcome and Er weak showing in Marshall County clinched it They knew be forehand that ithian was strong in Porter County where Democrats had staged a massive registration drive that netted them thousands ofvoters They talked happily about the way the vote was going in Tippe canoe County saying if ithian won by less than 4000 that much of a vote of confidence from his home county An hour later a man went to the board and marked figures for Mar jshall County home He was losing there look good to put it quite an aide said not Erwin said not terrible but its not think an aide said half an hour later But the group of supporters stayed and talked They watched while Erwin1 made I a concession statement gave inter Views to the media and walked through the room thanking every one One woman rose from her chair and said she was going out to vote again They kept on marking up the to tals and discussing the campaign with satisfication if not in vic tory then in something else Not far away ithian was an nouncing victory to' a cheering crowd A you need in' clean ing this place one Erwin aide asked another before they left me a couple days rest and give me a At 10:45 pm Erwin June their sons James and Lewis and daugh ter in law Jacquie got aboard the motor home they bought for the campaign and named Sometimes during the campaign it went through town playing an up beat tune They were heading back to their Bourbon farm house that had re cently been remodeled so a back portion could be closed off and rent ed to a school teacher and so they 7 could maintain two residences one here and one in Washington DC It was dark on 3rd St when they pulled away They honked the horn three times and were gone By LARRY SCHUMPERT Staff Political Writer Congressman loyd pthian a for mer history professor made history of his own Tuesday when he rolled up a big win over Republican Will: Erwin and became the first Demo crat ever re elected to Congress in the 2nd District ithian who never had much doubt during the campaign that he a could win defeated Erwin in 12 counties and won a plurality of more than 22000 votes Erwin real i ized early he had lost the race and even before the polls closed he knew he was in trouble because of thou sands of Republicans splitting their tickets for ithian ithian told enthusiastic support ers in the National Guard Armory here it was victory for the idea that people themselves can change By JOHN NORBERG Staff Writer Tippecanoe and 10 surrounding counties came out in force for the top Republicans on the bal lot Tuesday 1 President Gerald ord Senator elect Richard 9 rx 1 1 1 fx MX 1 9 zj 4 4 LUgdi aiiu kjuv vtia duwuh an iicuiuiiy uuicaicir their opponents' in what is generally considered Republican territory In Tippecanoe County" 727 per cent of the reg istered voters got to the polls and helped elect the three with much higher percentages than cast state wide ord got 62 per cent of the vote here com pared to 54 per cent state wide Lugar received a landslide 70 per cent of the vote compared to' 59 state wide and Bowen pulled down 66 per cent of the local vote comparedto his state widp win with 66 ner cent of the votes PPBCANOEird 2S186 aid Carter Xs teltot XhurSoil dectton BarUle' forts 31143 and Conrad 15425 And at one Republican precinct worker BET2iN: tt093i ens pSrter Vms said President elect Jimmy Carter helped get 3:279 and Hartke 1805 Bowen 3295 and Conrad 1776 rshe Sid responding to charges that CARROLL: ord 4797 and Carter 3606 Lu rad 3142 be your congressman and your congressional family for' the next two ithian told the crowd at the Armory And he said of supporters wel come them and will serve them in the best fashion I know is an historic he in Indiana has anyone from the Democratic Party been re elected to this seat We will see the restoration of a two party system in this district and this NO CHEERS NO TEARSWU1 and June Erwin watch the returns Erwin forgets in farm work Wha't do you do the morning after you lose a tough campaign for election to the US House of Representatives? You meet first' thing with a drainage contractor if you happen to be Re publican Will Erwin and a Bourbon farmer And what do you do if you happen to be the wife of a prominent Tippe canoe County Republican? You decide in the future going to give coffee parties only for Democrats Erwin who was defeated by incumbent Democrat loyd ithian Tuesday spent election day working on the farm something he said the campaign has kept him from doing And he got right back at it this morning After working on trenching equipment and checking out the grain storage at the farm Tuesday Erwin got up early today to meet with the contractor' He said he had planned on doing it quite awhile ago win or lose If he had won he said the physical labor would have helped him medi tate about 'what he planned to do in Congress If he had lost it would get his mind onto other things But while Erwin was going back to work Alice Sullivan wife of former Republican mayoral and congressional candidate Sullivan in dis appointment joked that she was through with one kind of work 1 1 She had givep a coffee for Erwin earlier in the year a chance for him to meet peoplefin small groups and explain his policies the'last time I give any candidate a Mrs Sullivan said Tuesday night at Erwin headquarters I first came to Indiana 'I gave Homer Capehart a coffee and Birch Bayh upset him and now With the price of coffee today who could blame her? 1 gar 5254 and Hartke 3079 Bowen 5249 Conrad 2994 CLINTON: ord 8199 and Carter 6662 gar 8621 and Conrad 6082 OUNTAIN: "gar 5222 and Cnnrad Wifi JASPER: ord 5571 and Carter 3286 Lu gar 5519 and Hartke 2882 Bowen' 5745 and Conrad 2697 MONTGOMERY: ord 9509 and Carter pecanoe County Lugar more than doubled the: 5320 Lugar 10224 and Hartke 4535 Bowen vote of incumbent Sen Vance Hartke In Mont gomery County! both Lugar and Bowen more than doubled their opponents Third party candidates did receive votes in the 11 counties but not enough to have any ef fect on the outcome of the Here are the county by county results in the Conrad 2 269 Only about 15 Democrats maybe a third of them old enough to vote were gathered around a television set at the armory on 9th St when CBS decided their top three candidates on the ticket would lose Indiana S' Jimmy Carter Vance Hartke and Larry Conrad were declared loseits in Indiana at about 6:30 pm and the sparse early crowd at the Democrat gathering seemed to understand the losses were bad news for local candi dates A few of the party faithful shook their heads and walked away from the television and an aura of gloom settled over the spacious armory i But as food was piled on long tables and barrels of beer were rolled in returns showed 2nd District Congressman loyd ithian and State Repre sentative Stan Jones headed toward victories and the size and spirits of the crowd increased 10008 and Conrad 4844 4 NEWTON: ord 3204 and Carter 2236 gar 3235 and Hartke 2135 Bowen 3215 Conrad 2085 PULASKI ord 3586 and gar 3837 and Hartke 2348 Campaign Pacer parked or sale: One Pacer automobile used only by congressional candidate tearing through district campaigning about how June Erwin wife of Republican congressional candidate Will Erwin felt Tuesday night Her husband lost in his bid for election to the US House of Representa tives Tuesday and Mrs Erwin said lost something too her love for her Pacer I Shehad picked it out herself earlier in the campaign really liked it and looked forward driving it around the district meeting people she said But that was before she found out how much have to drive it worst part of the campaign was the long hours on the road to get something accomplished she said got awfully sick of that Pacer before it was no pace like the pace of a campaign Pacer Journal and Courier Metro Report West Tippecanoe County i 1 1 id 7 1 I iw rf I A 1 i i I I a i'4 H9HkW Pit 18 bllllllw MH Ba Irl'W II 1 rlBUiftw gWWI Bk 1 ii: JIEiP I jipii" j'sr iL fiU" 'BBBh jBBBl wrJflBh Jm JBMMa 11 IBB! 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