State of the race(s)

For those who are curious I'll be posting a full photo-blog of my experience canvassing for Obama next Thursday.

Democratic Presidential Primary: This race may be effectively over in 6 days. Something has been bugging me these past few weeks though. The media seems fixated on Obama's "problem" among "working class whites". To get to the point, its total bullshit. The media is trying to make a regional difference between voters into a demographic gap. If Obama is doing so poorly among working class whites, why is he ahead here in Oregon by 20 points (Oregon being a poorer state than Ohio and having none of the 100 richest counties in the US)? Why did he (narrowly) win the Nebraska primary yesterday (nebraska's delegates being decided in a caucus in Feb. Looking at Senator Clinton's victories among whites, they're mostly in the Appalachians. Obama does well among working class whites in almost every other region, and it should be mentioned that they often trade working class males while she consistently wins females without college degrees who make under 40,000. Despite what our media would lead us to believe, regional differences are important. We're obviously all Americans but the culture of the Appalachians is drastically different than the Pacific Northwest, or even the Mid-West. Do your job assholes. That being said, Obama's Appalachian problem IS concerning. We need to win Ohio and Pennsylvania.

That brings me to another point. According to q Quinnipac poll over 60% of democrats want an Obama/Clinton ticket. Three words: fuck that shit. The Clintons would totally undermine Obama's message of change and cause horrible infighting in an Obama administration. My pick for VP: Ted Strickland. He'd have great appeal in the Appalachians and might be able to deliver Ohio for the dems. Hes also a Clinton supporter and may be able to heal the rift in the party without actually picking Hilary as veep. There is no lack of good candidates though. The Obama campaigns huge announcement at 7 PM EST should be interesting to say the least.

Statewide Races: Oregon democrats: we are divided. According to a recent poll the Secretary of State race is tied between Metzger and Brown, Novick is slightly ahead and the attorney general race is effectively tied as well. Each race also has a shitload of undecideds which leads me to ask: what is wrong with you people? Get out and vote. Check out the Willamette Week's endorsement interviews, read endorsements (especially mine) and get those ballots in!

PS: GO SAM ADAMS~!!!