Local bloggers started early in St. Louis offering their commentary on Tuesday’s Democratic primaries in Indiana and North Carolina. Sen. Barack Obama handily defeated rival Sen. Hillary Clinton in North Carolina and barely lost in Indiana.

The Gateway Pundit seized on what he called “a weird ‘War for Oil’ talking point tonight in his North Carolina speech.”

He quoted Obama: “(A Pennsylvania man I met) can’t afford four more years of an energy policy written by the oil companies and for the oil companies; a policy that is not only keeping gas at record prices but funding both sides of the war on terror and destroying our planet…”

Gateway’s item apparently struck a nerve, with a dozen comments from readers, including this from Cindy: “As usual when it comes to understanding the war on terror, Obama got it right. For ex, Saudis fund the fringe jihadists as well as the nonviolent but just as ultimately lethal ideological jihad, while oil companies doing business w/the Saudis supposedly simultaneously in the name of oil as a national security issue pressure the US to fight against the very extremists that Saudis have funded (such as the Taliban). Yep, he’s right.”

Conspiracy theories?

Gateway also notes in another item, “You could see this coming… Hillary ends her speech urging Democrats to seat the Florida and Michigan delegates.”

And there are conspiracy theorists among the commenters there, too. Says “BG”: “Uh-oh, I’m hearing via talk radio … that elite pro-Obama polling stations are still (illegally) open..where’s the (mainstream media)? …Judge has ruled polling stations may stay open all night.. don’t even try & tell me that the next US president hasn’t already been ‘chosen’.”

An Indiana TV station had this news item: “Election Day got off to a less than perfect start. Several Marion County polls opened late because workers didn’t arrive on time. Phone lines were busy solving typical problems. One, however, stands out. Incredibly, one Warren Township precinct didn’t receive its Democratic party ballots.” had this news item: “A court ordered the extension Tuesday morning. County clerk Karen Wenger told 6News that the company that provided the county’s voting machines, MicroVote, had the machines programmed improperly, so the machines couldn’t be turned on correctly, 6News’ Jeremy Brilliant reported.”

(Thank you for Tina Noel for pointing out the wrong link I had posted earlier to an old story, rather than the current one linked now.)

Obama back and forth

Some local bloggers supported Obama….

The Rev. Chuck Currie writes: “Republicans cannot be happy. In Indiana, Rush Limbaugh asked right-wing listeners of his show to cross party lines and vote for Clinton and it appears his followers did just that in record numbers. The GOP knows that Clinton would be an easy target come November.”

And, of course, others not so much…

BobMcCarty.com: “If Obama is honest, I expect him to use campaign imagery that carry much of the same political flavor of the Che Guevara flags posters that have been found decorating several of his campaign offices around the country.”

And STL Rising (perhaps the most optimistically): “Since the whole Reverend Wright (sp?) eruption, the democratic nomination now looks totally up for grabs.”