Timothy Egan on Obama and the fly-over (a/k/a rural) states

This, by guest columnist Timothy Egan, is one of the most-emailed items in the New York Times right now. The dateline is Missoula, Montana, and Egan begins by conveying a conversation he had there with a member of Sportsmen for Obama. Here's an excerpt from the column:

Why are there sportsmen for Obama? Or for that matter, nearly a dozen paid Obama staffers in Montana, a state that Democrats have won only twice in the last 50 years? Surely, its three electoral votes are not the draw.

Recent polls show Obama ahead or nearly tied in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota, the northern tier of the Democratic presidential desert. Talking to people under the Big Sky, you get the sense that three things are in play in the landscape of altered political expectations.

Read the entire column to find out what's on Egan's list of three factors that are making a difference for Obama in places like Montana.