Don't miss this about the "hillbilly" vote

This article in Salon by Dee Davis is terrific, and the headline alone merits attention: "Why don't those hillbillies like Obama?" Davis says that the issue is not just Obama's "Appalachia problem," it is the Democratic Party's wider "rural problem." He notes that Hillary has attracted 55% of rural voters, Obama 38%, across all the primaries to date. What does this portend for the fall, when rural voters, who Davis suggests have something significant in common across regions, may decide who becomes President?

Of course, Maureen Dowd suggested last week after the W. Virginia primary was that the problem is Appalachia's, and it is race. She's not the only one. But an eloquent college student from Whitesburg, Kentucky responded in an NPR audio essay this afternoon, rejecting the idea that Appalachia is rejecting Obama on the basis of his race . . . Stay tuned.