Posted on May 1.

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - For just a second, it looked like Indiana resident David Ellington was going to break the mold by showing a disinterest in the state's upcoming primary this Tuesday.

With canvassers supporting Sen. Barack Obama standing outside his house, Ellington apprehensively poked his head out his front door, unsure of what to expect.

When he finally realized why Robert and Mona Sternfeld were there, though, he smiled and swung his door wide open, asserting that he, too, was an Obama supporter.

"I'm already down for the guy," Ellington, 51, told the canvassers, seemingly taking pride in the fact that he'd beaten them to the punch. "All I want to know is if there's any way you can get me one of those cool Obama lawn signs."

Ellington's excitement for next Tuesday's Democratic presidential primary contest between Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is shared throughout his community, from the city's residents all the way up to its Republican mayor.

Duke Bennett, the mayor of Terre Haute, potentially showed an interest in the Democratic race when he was asked if he'd be endorsing Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee. Instead, Bennett - the first Republican mayor in Terre Haute since 1967 - stopped just shy of backing a Democrat.

"I prefer people who are bringing their own hometown values to Washington as opposed to people who have been there and done that," Bennett said, possibly hinting at his support for Obama, who's only been in the U.S. Senate since 2004. "I'd just prefer to have someone who has not been there for a long time. That's just my take."

Asked who he was referring to, Bennett said, "If you look at the three senators ... well, I'll keep it at that."

The Clinton and Obama campaigns have drawn nearly everyone's attention in this city of 60,000 in recent weeks, trying to win over a blue-collar area that mirrors the rest of the state demographically.

At one point, the Clinton campaign had an office here to pick up more support in the area. Just over two weeks ago, though, the headquarters caught on fire, destroying the building. Police ruled out arson shortly after the incident.

Trying to compensate for the lack of an office, former president Bill Clinton came to the site of the fire the next day, drawing hundreds of town residents. His daughter, Chelsea, has campaigned in Terre Haute twice since the fire. Sen. Clinton herself has been here once, and she's slated to visit again tomorrow evening.

While the Clintons' visits have outnumbered Obama's one appearance, the Illinois senator drew the biggest crowd, speaking before thousands of students at nearby Indiana State University last week.

Since the fire, some Obama supporters have been trying to take advantage of the Clinton campaign's misfortune by intensifying their canvassing efforts.

Prior to canvassing door-to-door for the Illinois senator last Tuesday, Obama supporters met in the basement of the local Teamsters Union to debrief about their performance in recent weeks. Allison Palmer, the head organizer for Obama's Terre Haute office, congratulated the group for having made more calls through phonebanking than any of the 25 other Obama offices in Indiana.

Unsurprisingly, the high-profile primary has increased voter registration in the county.

Debbie Kirk, director of voter registration in Vigo County, said her office was flooded with 2,200 voter registration forms - about 2 percent of the county's population - on April 7, the state's voter registration deadline.

When asked whether that was normal, Kirk laughed, saying it wasn't.

Bennett said this year's Democratic primary has taken precedent over everything else going on in the town.

"It has definitely overshadowed our local elections, and local elections are a big deal out here," he said. "It's interesting that we're getting all this attention, because this just never happens in Terre Haute. This has taken all the headlines."