[2] After working as a school teacher and principal for a year,[3] he was elected Crawford County Clerk in 1918, but resigned that office to serve in the United States Navy during World War I.
He was elected State Auditor, "where he uncovered a gasoline bootlegging scheme and recovered evaded taxes".
[2] From 1937 to 1942, Bobbitt was chair of the Republican Party in Indiana, which had suffered substantial losses in the national Democratic surge brought on by the Great Depression.
Bobbitt discussed the low Republican morale at the time with Homer E. Capehart, and approved Capehart's proposal to hold a massive "cornfield convention" in the state, drawing national participation and attention, and helping to restore the party's fortunes.
In 1950, Bobbitt was elected to the Indiana Supreme Court, assuming office on January 1, 1951, and immediately commencing a rotation as chief justice.