- All day long, volunteers flooded into the Obama headquarters in Gary, coming from Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan.  By the time I arrived there in the late afternoon, staff were redirecting people to Portage County.

- The walls of the Gary headquarters were littered with precinct maps.  The office itself was jammed with about two dozen people, all of them hitting the phones.

- Polling places in the city weren't at all crowded, but residents expected lines to form as the 6 pm closing time approached.

- During the 5 o'clock hour, I visited two quiet polling places in Hammond and another in Munster.  All said they'd seen record turnout over the course of the day, the bulk of it in the morning.

- I asked one tired looking Obama volunteer, "Are you running on steam at this point?" Her response, "No, hope!"