FRANKFORT — We walked into Jack and Jill on a whim.

Laura, Meg and I had just arrived in Indiana, and had decided that the first order of business would be to drive out to Clinton County and Frankfort in order to find, if possible, some Democrats in a rural part of the state.

It was a little harder than we thought.

Frankfort, a town of about 16,000 people, like many county seats in Indiana, has a central square with an ornate courthouse surrounded by historic storefronts.

And the place is as red as the reddest part of a red state could be. We, of course, didn’t know that.

When we drove into town, it was cold and windy.

We weren’t sure what to do next. How do you find Democrats, or even people who want to talk politics with complete strangers, in a small, very conservative place?

Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait long for the answer.

I walked up to the counter at Jack and Jill, a children’s clothing store run by retired local schoolteachers Carla Clemens and Carol Montgomery.

“Excuse me,” I said, “we’re students from Seattle. Do you of a place to go in town where people talk politics?”

Clemens and Montgomery were surprised that people would “come all the way out here” just to talk to people. We assured them that’s exactly what we loved to do. But instead of wishing us good luck and sending us on our way, they got on the phone … with all their friends.

Really.

“Hmm…. is Louie Evens a Democrat?” asked Montgomery (Evans was one of the town’s more prominent lawyers).

“Yes,” replied Clemens, “but he’s probably out for lunch.”

And so on.

As it turned out, we really didn’t find any Democrats (at least not any that were openly so), but we did talk to several very interesting people, including the nice folks at the local GOP HQ, as well as the editor of the town’s nearly 130-year-old paper.

The people in Indiana were like those of Texas: very honest, polite and helpful, with only a handful of exceptions. At stop after stop, they warmly greeted us, answered our questions graciously and gave out their business cards and free advice. At worst, the worst thing they could be faulted for was being a tad apathetic about national politics (or, at least, that’s what some of the people I talked to confessed).

But who could blame them? Indiana hasn’t count for much in terms of presidential primaries since 1968.

This year that changed in a big way, and every person I talked to, regardless of party (and especially the seemingly rare Democrats), knew that.