We have the rural vote! Hot Damn - we have the rural vote!!!

Remember that big, red blob in the middle? The fly over are? It's voting dem!!!! Welcome back, friends. Welcome back. :)

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Rural battleground shifts toward Democrats

October 27, 2006

The rural vote has shifted in favor of Democratic congressional candidates in the last month, indicating Republicans are losing ground with a key constituency, according to the Center for Rural Strategies Poll.

The poll of rural voters in 41 contested congressional districts found that likely voters preferred Democratic candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives by a margin of 13 points, 52 percent to 39 percent. In mid-September, the same population of voters was evenly split between the two parties at 45 percent each.

In contested Senate races in states with significant rural populations, rural voters preferred Democrats by 4 points, 47 to 43 percent, reversing the 4-point lead Republican Senate candidates held among rural voters in mid-September. But those results fall within the poll's margin of error.

"We're seeing a real erosion in Republican support among rural voters, and that could determine who controls Congress," said Democrat Anna Greenberg, one of the poll's analysts. "There has been a perfect storm of issues that have led rural voters toward Democratic candidates -- the war in Iraq, economic struggle in rural communities and a muddling of 'moral values' because of the Mark Foley scandal."

"The numbers in this poll have to be disturbing to any Republican involved in the upcoming election," said Bill Greener, a Republican strategist and consultant on the poll. "Republican success has relied on strong support from rural voters, and this survey indicates we don't have that support today. We have to do better if we are going to reach our objectives on Election Day."

http://www.ruralstrategies.org/projects/poll_2006.2.html

and their fancy, shiny suits, and their jazzy shoes that you won't find on any rack anywhere in Ruralville America....

the iraq war is a key factor as well.

I was excited a couple weeks ago, but with all the media waffling about how things are supposedly tightening up and Karl Rove telling us all how sure he is of victory, I'm just waiting to see how the chips really fall.

renewed optimism. This is excellent news.

he's simply trying to act confident.........what else is he going to say? I mean, I can't imagine he would say something like........oh man, we're not going to make it this time!

He's trying to supress the vote wherever possible and if he shows confidence, people will keep fighting as hard as possible up to the end.

If they do stay in power, it will be because they hacked into the voting machines.

Teens in small towns may be stuck on dial-up, but they can still access the net.

I don't trust the GOP and polls. The other day I heard them on radio row with karl rove talking about he has a large number of polls that the dems can't afford to waste money on but I hope it is going our way...

numbers at the ballot box. I recall lots of mockery on this board about rural folks over the past several years. About how the big Blue Urban sophisticated folks support us all. Well, there are and always have been Dems out here, but no one really notices or cares enough beyond ballot time to address rural concerns on a consistent basis. Our schools are crumbling much quicker than yours. Our jobs have been outsourced too and corporations have taken over the production of food. You mock farmers for wanting to be able to sell to the ethanol market. Well, if ya'll want to go into this brave new techno future, jobs need to be carved out in rural areas too. The Dems serve best when they don't forget this. We have whole towns out here which are literally dying out. We can't all live in the cities.

...to swing an election. Even added to the urban vote, it's iffy. What we need is a decent-size chunk of the suburbs.

Fortunately, I think we'll get it-- this time. 2008 is up in the air, however.

warily,
Bright