Good times in the Keystone State. Between the Phillies winning the World Series and the presidential race tightening up in important swing states, primarily PA, it's quite a time back home. (I call the commonwealth "home" because that's where I lived as an impressionable teen, even though it's been nearly a decade since I set foot there.)
Pennsylvania was an odd place to live. Our home was 45 minutes from Baltimore, but a world away from anything even slightly urban. The ward we lived in covered a big area geographically (similar to our current ward, but much more rural) and consisted of a pretty even mix of locals and transplants from the mountain west area; when we went to a BYU-Penn State football game in State College, the ward members represented both schools. Our small town was pretty politically conservative, but there was also an FDR-style liberalism under the surface.
I say this because I recently read a piece in Slate about how both presidential campaigns are redefining the politics of PA with their late burst of visits and rallies. Even though all the polls I see show a huge Obama lead, the 27 votes in Pennsylvania could dramatically alter the race, and the numbers there are getting tighter. Kerry and Gore both won PA, but by narrow margins, and the fact that rural voters, regardless of party affiliation, have very real issues with race makes this a very important piece of the electoral map this year.
This all began percolating in my mind on Sunday, while I was driving to a stake priesthood meeting and listening to "This American Life," which I usually hear via podcast, on the radio. The episode focused on various elements of the presidential race in PA, including Democrats for McCain and labor union organizers converting voters to Obama. Check out the show.
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4 comments:
Where did you live in PA? We lived in Lancaster, County before moving to Albuquerque. Loved it!
Southeastern York county, just across the river. We lived outside of Stewartstown and went to church in York. I went on a trip to Elizabethtown College (?)once in Lancaser county in high school, but that's about all the experience I have with Amish country.
I listened to that podcast earlier this week and work and I was embarrassed of some of the comments made by Pennsylvanians, some of whom were quite open about not being able to vote for a black person for president. That was the day I officially became a New Yorker. There's nothing embarrassing about that:)
Carolyn, my embarrassment is tempered by memories of people in the KDHS communities--and even the ward--who clearly shared those sentiments. There are areas in PA that are very racially homogeneous and where racial attitudes are very backwards. Once I thought back to Stewartstown, I was less surprised. I remember that there were all of two black kids in our high school, right?
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