Clere upsets Cochran in Ind. District 72 race

By CHRIS MORRIS
Chris.Morris@newsandtribune.com

November 05, 2008 04:10 pm

— Ed Clere had every reason to look a little stunned following his apparent victory over Bill Cochran Tuesday. He accomplished something that many political insiders said was impossible — beating a powerful 34-year incumbent of the Statehouse.
Clere, a first-time Republican candidate, unofficially defeated Bill Cochran in the race for State Representative in District 72.
Clere won by only 114 votes. He finished with 14,980 votes, or 50.3 percent, to Cochran’s 14,866 votes, or 49.7 percent. There are still 200 provisional ballots that could be counted, according to a Floyd County election official. Many of the provisional votes require the voter to show proper identification to the Floyd County Election Commission by Nov. 14 in order to be officially tallied.
“We really don’t know yet,” Clere said while waiting patiently outside of the Floyd County Clerk’s office. “It could come down to a low triple-digit, if not a double-digit contest.”
The race not only came down to the last precinct, but also provided some fireworks late Tuesday night inside the clerk’s office. After the last precinct reported in Floyd County, which was from Prosser School of Technology, Cochran and some of his supporters were witnessed by The Tribune entering County Clerk Linda Moeller’s private office, closing the door behind them.
Moeller was in an adjacent office reviewing election results with other members of her staff. When Clere saw the door closed, he immediately brought it to the attention of Moeller and threatened to call the sheriff.
Moeller immediately entered the room and ordered everyone out. Cochran and his supporters then left the building.
Clere said Moeller did a great job of ensuring nothing wrong was going on. He added that in such a close election, he wanted to make sure everything was legit.
“I wasn’t comfortable with my supporters in the hallway and Mr. Cochran and his supporters in the clerk’s office,” Clere said. “The clerk was doing everything she was supposed to do.”
District 72 covers 52 of Floyd County’s 60 precincts along with one precinct in Clark County.
Cochran was first elected to the Statehouse in 1974 and has been rarely challenged since. He is currently chairman of the budget subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee.
Clere gave credit to his many volunteers and campaign workers for pushing him over the hump.
“I had a tremendous amount of supporters,” he said. “That’s what made it happen. I couldn’t have done it alone.”
Clere said the voters were receptive to his message and were hungry for change at every level.
“I was the underdog every step of the way,” he said. “I was the underdog when I woke up this morning. It was a team effort.
“I’m ready to get to work.”
Attempts to reach Cochran were unsuccessful.

—Staff writer Daniel Suddeath contributed to this story

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