The Chicago Tribune contains two surprising items today

The Chicago Tribune's Saturday edition contains two items: first that the state of Indiana is in play for Democrats for the first time since 1964. And. Brace yourself, the Chicago Tribune, the conservative Republican newspaper, is endorsing Democratic candidate for President, Barack Obama.

Neither item is shocking or unexpected. But still surprising. Both events have been developing for quite some time. The Obama campaign has opened 44 campaign offices in Indiana.

The Indiana challenge to John McCain on Republican turf has something to do with the fact that the Democratic primary against Hillary Clinton went the distance. The campaign infrastructure was kept in place there from the primary and many of the same faces that staffed and volunteered for Obama, popped up again for the General Election. One of the strongholds in Indiana for Obama will be northwest Indiana where hundreds of volunteers have been pouring into the state from the Chicagoland area to canvass door-to-door, make phone calls, solicit donations and distribute yard signs. This strategy is paying off dividends for Barack Obama because of the distracting nature of having a presence in Indiana. John McCain must spend valuable time and resources in a state that should have been in his back pocket. John McCain has been outflanked by the Obama campaign.

Across the state, the Obama campaign has 44 field offices. In 2004, John Kerry had none. Jonathan Swain, communications director for Obama's Indiana campaign, said Obama is the first Democratic presidential candidate to campaign in the state in October since Lyndon Johnson in 1964. Swain insisted the state is very competitive, even in the culturally conservative south, and he expects Obama to visit again before Election Day.

McCain, in contrast, has no offices in the state and hasn't been here since July.

A compilation of polls by Real Clear Politics, a non-partisan group, shows McCain with a lead of 48.8 percent to 45 percent in Indiana—a close-enough margin that the state is considered a toss-up.

And then the Chicago Tribune endorsement. Prior to Barack Obama's announcement for the Presidency, the Chicago Tribune editorialized on December 6, 2006 that "Obama should run" for President.

To run for president would be a big leap for someone who just a couple of years ago was commuting to Springfield as a state senator. There is a plausible case why [Barack Obama] should bide his time and burnish his credentials for the future--plausible, but not persuasive. When a leader evokes the enthusiasm that Obama does, he should recognize that he has something special to offer, not in 2012 or 2016, but right now.

For the Chicago Tribune, it may have been a shrewd business move aimed at selling more newspapers, possibly an acknowledgment that its subscribers have turned more Democratic, bluer if you will. Or they simply believe that Barack Obama is just what our nation needs. But they recognized this back in December of 2006. And today this is what they said.

However this election turns out, it will dramatically advance America's slow progress toward equality and inclusion. It took Abraham Lincoln's extraordinary courage in the Civil War to get us here. It took an epic battle to secure women the right to vote. It took the perseverance of the civil rights movement. Now we have an election in which we will choose the first African-American president . . . or the first female vice president.

In recent weeks it has been easy to lose sight of this history in the making. Americans are focused on the greatest threat to the world economic system in 80 years. They feel a personal vulnerability the likes of which they haven't experienced since Sept. 11, 2001. It's a different kind of vulnerability. Unlike Sept. 11, the economic threat hasn't forged a common bond in this nation. It has fed anger, fear and mistrust.

On Nov. 4 we're going to elect a president to lead us through a perilous time and restore in us a common sense of national purpose.

The strongest candidate to do that is Sen. Barack Obama. The Tribune is proud to endorse him today for president of the United States.

And they then acknowledged what they stated on December 6, 2006.

On Dec. 6, 2006, this page encouraged Obama to join the presidential campaign. We wrote that he would celebrate our common values instead of exaggerate our differences. We said he would raise the tone of the campaign. We said his intellectual depth would sharpen the policy debate. In the ensuing 22 months he has done just that.

Many Americans say they're uneasy about Obama. He's pretty new to them.

We can provide some assurance. We have known Obama since he entered politics a dozen years ago. We have watched him, worked with him, argued with him as he rose from an effective state senator to an inspiring U.S. senator to the Democratic Party's nominee for president.

Thank you to the Chicago Tribune for reporting the story on Indiana (a state in which I am volunteering) and thank you for finally seeing the light after all these years and endorsing the right candidate. It is never too late to get it right. Reading on Walden Bookstore.