These are not gentle lands for Mr. Obama. A visit here in August found even deeper suspicions of him in Beaver County, where Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton beat him by 40 percentage points in the Democratic primary. Democrats outnumber Republicans, but voters here tilt either way in presidential elections. Full Story »
Posted by Chris Finnie
Great report on how Obama is perceived in Pennsylvania's small towns. The author conducted 35 interviews over three days to find out how issues of race affect voters in a part of the country that has received much attention lately. These conversations shed new light on McCain's prospects in this state, where a surprise victory could rescue his presidential bid.
“She’s always talking about the ‘Average Joe’. Average me! I don’t want myself in the Oval Office. I want someone smarter.” More »
A brutally honest picture of an election that could still surprise us--and some even more honest reasons why. While a lot of reporters are already running victory laps for Obama, Powell shows why they may be premature. This is the story Democrats are worried about.
This is a report on the strong influence that race appears to have on voter preferences in Pennsylvania steel country. It's all anecdote and hearsay, but then there isn't much else to go on. But for that reason, I don't believe that the implication that race is the principal reason the Clinton did so well in the primary and that it is the reason McCain has a chance is completely fair.
Thorough ground-level reporting, using quotations from 35 interviews in Pennsylvania. A solid cross-section of viewpoints are represented, which presents an accurate and complex portrait of this area.
This is a very well written and informative story about primarily older individual election concerns in western Pennsylvania. This story features many people who are still not sure whom they will vote.
Without mentioning the occasion for this report (i.e. Rep. John Murtha's comment about the Appalachian region of Pennsylvania being racist [no, he later apologized; they are "redneck"]), the writer investigates the race issue in a series of interviews and discovers that while it may exist, there is also some support for the Obama ticket on its merits. In the end, the article suggests, McCain has a chance here as some in this area of the state will be writing in Hillary Clinton's name. One footnote not adequately covered in the piece: McCain is capitalizing on the Murtha gaffe by stating that western Pennsylvania and the Appalachian coal region are among America's most patriotic.
I lived in this area for 18 years and can attest that while racism exists (as it does everywhere), the people here simply don't have time to focus on that as much as earning a living, tending their lands and caring for their families with few available jobs or hope for future resources. However, they do tend toward the Democratic party because it supports the unions, which safeguarded generations of miners and still has a foothold in western Pennsylvania and southeast Ohio.
He winces at himself. “We was raised and worked with the black, the Serb,” he said. “It was a regular league of nations. And the economy now, it’s terrible.” More »
This article visits a question that, unfortunately, is central to this presidential contest--will America elect a Black man? Brings to the surface the many nuances of racism, both lingering attitudes and those acquired through more recent experience.
What is truly remarkable is that in America the "one drop rule" still seems to apply. Barack Obama, as the son of an African father, is exactly as much White as he is Black--yet he IS "the Black candidate." Even most Americans who self-identify as "Black" are part White--some predominantly White. And nearly 30% of "White" Americans are part Black. If Barack Obama were from Brazil, he would likely self-identify as "White"--and others would accept his chosen label--because he is ... More »
Using a handful of anecdotes, Powell draws a nuanced portrait of voters whose economic interests may conflict with their attitudes on race or social conservatism. The article raises the question on how this will play out in the election.
Arguably, the subtext of the article is that McCain/Palin are banking on racism, fear, and misinformation to prevail in the state of Pennsylvania.
Its quality excels in that the reporter(s) managed to get the interview subjects to open up on a surprisingly deep level. If not the stressful economic crisis, it was presumably the reporters' skills, empathy or patience that achieved some almost embarrassingly frank remarks on the record. The article goes beyond conventional wisdom but specifies where its additional insight is based only on Beaver County and where it might inform understanding of the nationwide situation. The author finds the poetic in some mundane things, from figures of speech to the way a homebound voter interacts with everyone by window.
I hear the objection of one commenter, who's in a position to know, that the plain speech of the local people is an unfair thing to repeat in print, as a reporter would normally clean up the English a bit. I disagree in the case of such an in-depth article. I live in Brooklyn NY and I find that the uneducated, the so-called "thug" class, the immigrant, and the privileged rich alike are quoted in their own word usage when the Times prints a feature or column whose purpose includes ... More »
Powell's findings mirror the attitudes I found in Allegheny County while canvassing for Obama in the primary.
So sad that there are democrats wasting their votes by writing in for Hillary. A terrible waste just because of racism. So sad.
It's nice to see so many voices in one story. Even though the facts are all anecdotal, the story is relevant...there are plenty of polls out there, and this sort of helps explain them.
I love the guy who he doesn't watn an average Joe in the White House, but someone a little smarter. So refreshing!
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