Two stories that are at least implicitly about the intersection of rurality with national politics caught my eye yesterday. One is about Byron Dorgan's plan not to run for a fourth term in the U.S. Senate. Dorgan is a Democrat from North Dakota, a state that is rural by many measures.
The other story is about the prospect that Harold Ford Jr., formerly a congressman from Tennessee, will challenge Kirsten Gillibrand for her seat in the U.S. Senate. When she was selected last year to replace Hillary Clinton as New York's junior senator, Gillibrand was pilloried for being folksy and a bit too closely aligned with positions popular in her upstate (rural) New York congressional district, e.g., opposing gun control. Read posts here and here. Today's story, however, suggests that Ford would be presented as an independent thinker and a conservative alternative to Gillibrand, who is now seen by some as being too closely aligned with the state's other U.S. Senator, Charles Schumer.
Americans have always rewarded candidates who offered meaningful change and hope in times of crisis. On occasion, a transformational candidate emerges as a consensus builder and broadens a party's traditional reach. The 'Reagan Democrats' phenomenon is perhaps the strongest manifestation of the past generation.In 2008, both Barack Obama and Senator John McCain faced the unenviable task of convincing their opponent's constituencies to change sides. The 2000 and 2004 electoral maps reveal an extremely polarized country in which neither major party strayed far from its core territorial base. From the start of the election cycle onward, something clicked between the Obama campaign and Iowa voters. The symbolism of a 95% white state favoring an African-American candidate over political icons Clinton and McCain sent a powerful message to all, especially an initially skeptical black population.For more information visit us at:-Notary London.
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