A story on Obama courting Southern voters, with nary a mention of the rural

This appeared in the New York Times today under the headline: Obama Camp Thinks Democrats Can Rise in the South. Given the great deal of attention by the media (including the NYT) to parsing the rural-urban vote during the Democratic primaries, especially in the South and especially in the latter months, I found it interesting that Robin Toner made no mention of the rural vote in this piece. This is in spite of the fact that, compared to other regions, a larger percentage of people living in the South live in rural areas. Another way of stating it is that a disproportionate number of non-metro Americans live in the South -- about 40% of them according to page 4 of this USDA Report on rural poverty. In short, rurality is closely associated with the South in our national consciousness -- and with good reason.

Meanwhile, the folks over at the Daily Yonder are giving us lots of coverage of the Presidential race, all with a rural angle. Their coverage includes this response, on July 1, to the NYT story.