By NEIL H. SIMON, Media General News Service
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WASHINGTON -- Sen. Barack Obama’s win in Wisconsin Tuesday underscored his rising popularity among rural voters, a constituency that some political observers say has been neglected by national Democrats.
After winning about 37 percent of the rural vote on Super Tuesday, Obama captured 51 percent of the rural vote in the so-called Potomac primaries Feb. 12 and 55 percent of Wisconsin’s rural vote, according to an analysis by the Center for Rural Strategies.
“It certainly does look as if Obama is trending toward more rural support than he had on Super Tuesday, and Clinton seems to be trending toward less rural support,” said Tim Marema, vice president of the strategies center, a Kentucky-based nonpartisan organization that studies rural politics.
Obama won 65 percent of Virginia’s rural vote Feb. 12, according to CNN exit polls -- success Rep. Rick Boucher predicted.
When the southwest Virginia Democrat endorsed Obama in January, he cited November and electability. Boucher said Obama can carry a district like his, which President Bush won in 2004 with 59 percent of the vote -- “and no other Democrat can.”
“Rural support is essential support for Democrats to get elected,” Boucher said, noting the party’s victories in Virginia of Gov. Tim Kaine, former Gov. Mark Warner, and Sen. Jim Webb.
Rural analysts say the presidential primary voting trend reflects Obama’s gains and Hillary Clinton’s losses among older, white, lower-income voters.
“In each of those groups, that was sort of her base,” Marema said. “In general, now she’s dropping in all those areas and Obama’s picking up in all those.”
Obama’s primary wins – now 10 in a row – show his campaign’s strength in so-called Red states that Bush won in 2004.
Of the 21 Red states that have held Democratic primaries or caucuses so far, Obama has won 14. In eight states, he won with more than 60 percent of the vote. He won Kansas, Idaho and Alaska with more than 70 percent.
“He tapped into an optimism and a kind of can-do spirit that’s very much present in states like Kansas, where you role up your sleeves and you get the job done,” said Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, D-Kan., who backs Obama.
Click the play button below to hear Gov. Sebelius talk about why she thinks Red-state voters are supporting Obama.
Click the play button below to hear Gov. Sebelius discuss the role of race and gender prejudice in the 2008 campaign.
In North Dakota, where Obama opened four offices and hired seven campaign staffers -- a move Democrat Sen. Kent Conrad called unprecedented -- Obama won 61 percent of the vote.
Obama’s message of working across party lines “fits the culture” of neighbor helping neighbor at harvest time, Conrad said.
In Ohio, Gov. Ted Strickland, a Clinton endorser, says rural voters want something more specific than Obama offers. Ohio’s primary is March 4.
Strickland, who grew up on a dirt road, considers himself “a son of Appalachia.” His state’s population is 23 percent rural.
“People who are of the struggling, working class support (Clinton) and you find a lot of those folks in rural areas” said Strickland.
Click the play button below to hear Gov. Strickland talk about a political discussion he had recently with Bill Clinton.
Click the play button below to hear Gov. Strickland talk about why rural Ohioans will support Hillary Clinton.
Providing health care for the poor and feeding the hungry are Democratic messages that should resonate with religious, rural voters, he said.
Last weekend, Strickland, who has a 60 percent approval rating, campaigned for Clinton in four southeast Ohio towns with barely more than 50,000 people combined. As first lady, Clinton came to this region pushing her national health care policy. Strickland says her return visits helped her husband win Ohio in 1996.
Other Red-state Democratic endorsers skip policy issues and look at who is most electable in November.
Elected officials who support Obama said that in rural America, a Clinton at the top of the ticket can be a burden.
Nine-term Democratic Rep. Chet Edwards represents Waco and Crawford, Texas, where President Bush’s ranch is located. The district supported Bush by 70 percent in 2004. After years of not endorsing in primaries, Edwards decided this month to back Obama.
“As I talk to Democratic state legislators, they have concerns about Senator Clinton being on the ticket,” he said.
“I don’t think she deserves all the venom that has been directed toward her over the last 16 years … but in politics, perception is reality, and she has been turned into a lightning rod by those who oppose her. And it’s hard to change one’s image nationally,” Edwards said.
Clinton has successfully appealed to rural voters in the past.
“She got elected to the Senate by working her tail off in upstate New York. She definitely understands the importance of rural places,” said Niel Ritchie, executive director of the Minneapolis-based League of Rural Voters.
His nonpartisan organization sponsored a forum in October to connect candidates with rural voters. Clinton, Obama and John Edwards participated.
More than six weeks after Iowa, rural analysts say Obama’s winning streak itself may be attracting rural voters.
“(The candidates) have not really made the types of substantive overtures to rural people that would explain the change,” said Marema.
When Virginia voted Feb. 12, observers said rural issues seemed as far from the stump speeches as the fields of Iowa.
“That’s a loss on their part,” said Virginia Farm Bureau lobbyist Martha Moore, who encourages candidates to talk about agricultural issues.
“It would demonstrate they haven’t written off rural America to one party or another.”
In Texas, with an 18 percent rural population, Clinton’s double-digit lead in the polls has dwindled, but Obama supporters say they are taking nothing for granted heading into the March 4 contest.
“People have written off the Clintons in the past at their own peril,” Chet Edwards said.
After winning about 37 percent of the rural vote on Super Tuesday, Obama captured 51 percent of the rural vote in the so-called Potomac primaries Feb. 12 and 55 percent of Wisconsin’s rural vote, according to an analysis by the Center for Rural Strategies.
“It certainly does look as if Obama is trending toward more rural support than he had on Super Tuesday, and Clinton seems to be trending toward less rural support,” said Tim Marema, vice president of the strategies center, a Kentucky-based nonpartisan organization that studies rural politics.
Obama won 65 percent of Virginia’s rural vote Feb. 12, according to CNN exit polls -- success Rep. Rick Boucher predicted.
When the southwest Virginia Democrat endorsed Obama in January, he cited November and electability. Boucher said Obama can carry a district like his, which President Bush won in 2004 with 59 percent of the vote -- “and no other Democrat can.”
“Rural support is essential support for Democrats to get elected,” Boucher said, noting the party’s victories in Virginia of Gov. Tim Kaine, former Gov. Mark Warner, and Sen. Jim Webb.
Rural analysts say the presidential primary voting trend reflects Obama’s gains and Hillary Clinton’s losses among older, white, lower-income voters.
“In each of those groups, that was sort of her base,” Marema said. “In general, now she’s dropping in all those areas and Obama’s picking up in all those.”
Obama’s primary wins – now 10 in a row – show his campaign’s strength in so-called Red states that Bush won in 2004.
Of the 21 Red states that have held Democratic primaries or caucuses so far, Obama has won 14. In eight states, he won with more than 60 percent of the vote. He won Kansas, Idaho and Alaska with more than 70 percent.
“He tapped into an optimism and a kind of can-do spirit that’s very much present in states like Kansas, where you role up your sleeves and you get the job done,” said Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, D-Kan., who backs Obama.
Click the play button below to hear Gov. Sebelius talk about why she thinks Red-state voters are supporting Obama.
Click the play button below to hear Gov. Sebelius discuss the role of race and gender prejudice in the 2008 campaign.
In North Dakota, where Obama opened four offices and hired seven campaign staffers -- a move Democrat Sen. Kent Conrad called unprecedented -- Obama won 61 percent of the vote.
Obama’s message of working across party lines “fits the culture” of neighbor helping neighbor at harvest time, Conrad said.
In Ohio, Gov. Ted Strickland, a Clinton endorser, says rural voters want something more specific than Obama offers. Ohio’s primary is March 4.
Strickland, who grew up on a dirt road, considers himself “a son of Appalachia.” His state’s population is 23 percent rural.
“People who are of the struggling, working class support (Clinton) and you find a lot of those folks in rural areas” said Strickland.
Click the play button below to hear Gov. Strickland talk about a political discussion he had recently with Bill Clinton.
Click the play button below to hear Gov. Strickland talk about why rural Ohioans will support Hillary Clinton.
Providing health care for the poor and feeding the hungry are Democratic messages that should resonate with religious, rural voters, he said.
Last weekend, Strickland, who has a 60 percent approval rating, campaigned for Clinton in four southeast Ohio towns with barely more than 50,000 people combined. As first lady, Clinton came to this region pushing her national health care policy. Strickland says her return visits helped her husband win Ohio in 1996.
Other Red-state Democratic endorsers skip policy issues and look at who is most electable in November.
Elected officials who support Obama said that in rural America, a Clinton at the top of the ticket can be a burden.
Nine-term Democratic Rep. Chet Edwards represents Waco and Crawford, Texas, where President Bush’s ranch is located. The district supported Bush by 70 percent in 2004. After years of not endorsing in primaries, Edwards decided this month to back Obama.
“As I talk to Democratic state legislators, they have concerns about Senator Clinton being on the ticket,” he said.
“I don’t think she deserves all the venom that has been directed toward her over the last 16 years … but in politics, perception is reality, and she has been turned into a lightning rod by those who oppose her. And it’s hard to change one’s image nationally,” Edwards said.
Clinton has successfully appealed to rural voters in the past.
“She got elected to the Senate by working her tail off in upstate New York. She definitely understands the importance of rural places,” said Niel Ritchie, executive director of the Minneapolis-based League of Rural Voters.
His nonpartisan organization sponsored a forum in October to connect candidates with rural voters. Clinton, Obama and John Edwards participated.
More than six weeks after Iowa, rural analysts say Obama’s winning streak itself may be attracting rural voters.
“(The candidates) have not really made the types of substantive overtures to rural people that would explain the change,” said Marema.
When Virginia voted Feb. 12, observers said rural issues seemed as far from the stump speeches as the fields of Iowa.
“That’s a loss on their part,” said Virginia Farm Bureau lobbyist Martha Moore, who encourages candidates to talk about agricultural issues.
“It would demonstrate they haven’t written off rural America to one party or another.”
In Texas, with an 18 percent rural population, Clinton’s double-digit lead in the polls has dwindled, but Obama supporters say they are taking nothing for granted heading into the March 4 contest.
“People have written off the Clintons in the past at their own peril,” Chet Edwards said.