INDIANAPOLIS | Porter County Democratic Chairman Jeff Chidester joined fellow party officials Monday to formally cast Indiana's 11 Electoral College votes for Barack Obama.

The morning ceremony in the Indiana House chambers marked the first time in 44 years that Democrats, not Republicans, gathered to cast Indiana's presidential lot.

"This is brand new to most of the people in this room, and I could get used to it real quick," said U.S. Rep. Baron Hill, D-Ind. "Hopefully we can do it again in four years."

Chidester, who became Porter County chairman in 2007, said the Democrats' long drought in Indiana meant he faced no competition this summer when he applied to become one of the party's presidential electors. Bonnie Reese, a Wheatfield Democrat, signed on as an alternate.

"It was a long shot, figuring that Indiana hadn't gone blue in such a long time," said Chidester, a business agent for Ironworkers Local 395. "I'm casting this electoral vote on a couple people's behalf: the Democrats in the 1st Congressional District, naturally, but also the unions of Northwest Indiana. They all came together and got the vote out and really, really, really carried a lot of water."

It was clear Hoosier Democrats hadn't performed the electoral exercise in some time.

Reese asked if she was sitting in the right place when Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita called her name. And Rokita, who presided over the 90-minute ceremony, had to invite another alternate elector to come down from one of the House balconies and take a seat at one of the desks where legislators typically sit.