WP, pg1: Lima, Ohio; Ohio Town's Democrats See 'Hope' Differently

Ohio Town's Democrats See 'Hope' Differently
By Eli Saslow
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 17, 2008; Page A01

....Inside this Honda manufacturing plant built on top of an old pig farm, (Bo) Huenke's only hope for distraction is a good argument with the other men who work on the line. They're mostly what he calls "good ol' boys" -- white, Catholic and descendants of Italian and German immigrants, just like him -- so liberal proclamations usually instigate heated debate. "Democrats are taking over Ohio," Huenke says to a chorus of protests. Or, "This war has been a disaster from Day One." But, every now and then, Huenke makes the rare political assessment that most people here seem to agree on. "Obama, doesn't he sound a little naive?" asked Huenke, 52. "He stands up there, so optimistic, preaching about hope and change. It sounds great and everything, but come on. He doesn't quite get it."

Voters like Huenke present a difficult challenge to Sen. Barack Obama as he looks ahead to March 4, when primary battles with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in Ohio and Texas threaten to halt his campaign's momentum. In Lima and other fading manufacturing towns, he must confront difficult questions that go to the heart of his candidacy and its appeal to a broad section of Americans:

Can grandiose visions of hope and change resonate in places where change -- in this case economic change -- has brought housing foreclosures and economic ruin, where hope means avoiding another round of layoffs? Can a candidate whose support has been based on African Americans and upper-middle-class whites transcend class and race in places where racial tension still colors everything?

When the Clinton and Obama campaigns set up field offices in Lima last week, they discovered a sad town of about 40,000 already at odds between black and white, between dreamers and realists. There are people here like Josiah Mathews, 25, a black man who believes Obama can help bring peace and prosperity to his home town. But there are also people like Huenke, white and working class, who sense a disconnect between Obama's inspirational rhetoric and life's daily struggles. They prefer Clinton for her experience and economic policies, which they believe might stabilize Lima's decline.

"A minority president or a woman president -- both are hard sells in Lima," Huenke said. "But Hillary's easier, because you also get Bill. When you're thinking politics around here, you've got to be practical."...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/16/AR2008021602729.html?hpid=topnews

Really, the physical and economic segregation is the worst I've ever seen. It's economic apartheid.

In that area of the world, people are going to come up with prettified explanations (probably featuring Jesus) but in the end it's going to come down to race. Because the people who aren't racist assholes move someplace that isn't so hellbent on reenacting the 50's.

Because I could make those same statements about parts of Idaho and Washington state, and yet Obama won in a landslide. What is it about the rural east that is so different?