Valentina Pasquali

Virginia Beach, VA – Teya Kelley is twenty-five, and a volunteer for Barack Obama in Virginia Beach. Ms. Kelley came here from Washington D.C., where she works as an organizer for local union Unite Here – whose red t-shirt she wears proudly. “This is the undecided district of the undecided state,” she declares with some conviction. Since September, Ms. Kelley has been deployed, along with another 15 members, to this southeastern tip of Virginia to walk low-income and prevalently African-American neighborhoods and register new voters for the November 4^th elections. On weekends, Ms. Kelley volunteers with the Obama camp.

Perfecting Saints Worship Center

Known as the Hampton Roads, and nestled between the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay, this region of Virginia just above North Carolina is one of the most fiercely contested turfs in this year’s battle for the White House. It is here that the cities of Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Suffolk cluster together in one of the most populated metropolitan areas in the state, home to the largest naval base in the world. Virginia Beach, the heart of the local military complex, went for President George W. Bush in 2004 approximately sixty-to-forty percent. Neighboring Norfolk, where much of the workers servicing the Navy live, fared in precisely the opposite way, with over sixty-one percent of voters choosing Senator John Kerry. Suffolk was somewhere in between, with President Bush winning fifty-two to forty-seven percent.

“I came to Virginia because this is a swing state,” explains Lystra Campbell from Maryland. Also a Unite Here worker, Ms. Campbell has been registering voters in southern Virginia since September and, like Ms. Kelley, volunteers for Barack Obama on weekends.

Ms. Lystra Campbell

The reality is that Virginia has not been a swing state in decades — the last time it went for a democratic presidential candidate was 1968. Since then, the state has trended consistently republican, especially thanks to the conservative worldview of the military establishment along the coast and the small town values along the western edge. However, Ms. Campbell is correct, this year is a completely different story.

First of all, the demographics of the state have been changing to the advantage of the democrats; in the last few years, while the more rural and conservative regions of Virginia experienced a trend toward depopulation, the more liberal suburbs of Washington DC grew exponentially. Also, thanks to the excitement created by Barack Obama, the 2008 election should witness a higher than average turn-out by African Americans, who have a history of low participation because of the belief that the state would necessarily go for the GOP. Simultaneously, republicans disappointed by the job of President Bush might be more reluctant to go to the polls. As a result, Virginia is in play. Not coincidentally John McCain, Barack Obama, Sarah Palin and Joe Biden have all made separate stops to various parts of the state just in the last ten days.

News coming from the Commonwealth is very encouraging for the democrats. The latest Washington Post/ABC News poll suggests that Senator Obama is leading by eight percentage points over Senator McCain. According to almost all observers, this must be explained, at least partially, with the unprecedented ground operations assembled by the Obama campaign even in places, such as Virginia, where democratic candidates have not dared competing for a very long time. Over the course of the last several months, the Obama camp has opened over 50 field offices staffed with around 250 employees managing the work of thousands of volunteers. Virginia has the most field organizers to population than any state except for Florida. Staffer Christina Arrison, who is one of two field organizers for Virginia Beach, and volunteer Teya Kelley are examples of the dedication of the Obama foot soldiers: “I get about five hours of sleep per night,” says Ms. Arrison, “but I expect it to go down to zero from now on.”

Ms. Arrison Preps her Volunteers

Under overcast skies and in a cold misty wind, Mss. Arrison, Campbell and Kelley, together with Ethel James, a volunteer from New York City, are on their knees putting together yard signs. Ms. Arrison and her volunteers are waiting under the front porch of a small church pinned on the outskirts of a residential neighborhood. The Virginia Beach operations are normally ran out of a field office a few miles away. However, Ms. Arrison elected this non-denominational Christian worship center as the base for the weekend canvassing sessions. The church is one of a few scattered non-descript buildings along a major thoroughfare at the northern end of the city. Pastor Joe Flores, who is running for City Council, heads the congregation.

At around 11am, much later than expected, a church official appears, only to tell the campaign workers that a board meeting held the previous week established that running canvassing for Obama from the church ground violates its tax-free status. Politely, the woman asks the campaign to move their cars and flyers to the adjacent parking lot.

After a quick pep talk, Ms. Arrison dispatches Ms. Kelley to walk a neighborhood enclosed between Northampton Boulevard and

Volunteers for Obama Prepare to Canvass Decisive Virginia Beach

Baker Road. This is a solidly middle-class district, lined up with large dwellings and multiple cars per garage, and it is racially mixed. It is also one of the more contested in the county and yard signs for McCain/Palin compete with those for Obama/Biden at every street corner. Although until recently the campaign was talking to undecided voters – “If undecided voters speak with a volunteer in person, they will be ten times more likely to vote for your candidate,” Ms. Arrison explained outside of Pastor Flores’ church – this last week is mostly dedicated to getting out the vote, knocking on the doors of supporters to remind them to go to the polls.

As a result, the majority of the people who open their doors to Ms. Kelley are African-American democrats, many of who did not vote in 2004. Ms. Kelley’s job is precisely to make sure they turn out for Barack Obama this year. Despite an overwhelmingly positive response, Ms. Kelley worries that Obama supporters might be taking victory for granted: “People hear the polls saying that we are ahead and so I feel that we lack a sense of urgency, that we forget that the outcome of this election is still unclear.” Despite intermittent drizzle and chill air, Ms. Kelley walks for several hours and knocks on about sixty doors. She recruits a few new volunteers for the remaining days of the campaign, plants signs on the front lawns of supporters and encourages a woman with a broken leg and another who will be leaving for boot camp before election day to go cast their ballots at an early voting location. After her long day on the streets, Teya Kelley finishes her Saturday by joining Christina Arrison at her field office to make phone calls.

Ms. Kelley and Ms. Arrison Ready for the Final Stretch

The last stretch of this prolonged election seasons will come down to just this: long days on the streets of America turning out one’s own supporters. Especially in a place like southern Virginia where the numbers of democrats and republicans are practically even and where the outcome of elections is normally determined by turnout, campaigns are giving it all to increase participation levels by their faithful. On election night, for example, Obama’s foot soldiers will give up sleep to walk the neighborhoods of Virginia and place door-hangers in high commuters areas between midnight and three and again between three and six in the morning, so that even early risers will find a reminder that the time has come to cast the ballot.

Originally reported and written for Washington Prism

Woodbridge, VA – Lodged in a non-descript strip-mall in suburban Virginia, L & B Pizzeria and Sports Bar was in full capacity on Wednesday night prior to the final presidential debate between candidates John McCain and Barack Obama. By 8 P.M., as other businesses were closing down L & B remained the only speck of light overlooking an otherwise deserted parking lot.

The Republican Committee of Prince William County was having a watch party for the last Presidential debate between the two candidates and, from early on, republican supporters from the neighborhood flocked to this Italian-American pizzeria. They bought memorabilia from the McCain/Palin campaign and took their seats at one of the light wooden booths; blue and red balloons reached up to the ceiling.

Republican Supporters Celebrate Sarah Palin

The nearly 50-odd people aged fifty and above, were on a mission — cheering on the GOP Presidential hopeful to the slogan: “Keep Virginia Red.” Prince William County went for President George W. Bush in 2004 — fifty-three percent to forty-five percent — over Democratic candidate John Kerry. However this year, together with Loudon County, Prince William is one of few key districts in play, which could help the Democrats carry this unexpected swing state.

Despite the most recent polls, which give Senator Obama a distinct lead both at the national and state levels, Sen. McCain supporters at L & B projected a positive attitude: “I think that there will be a surge; people will wise-up and understand that John McCain is the right man,” said Mike Graumann, a fifty-three year-old construction worker married to a computer analyst and a father of two. Mr. Graumann sat with his friend Joe Mazzoccoli, a sixty-three year-old retired hairstylist of Italian descent. Mr. Mazzoccoli is married to an accountant and has eleven grown children and eleven grandchildren.

With Fox News playing in the background, the two friends discussed their biggest fear — the arrival of socialism in the U.S. “Obama wants to spread wealth from the bottom-up,” Mr. Mazzoccoli argued animatedly. “They’ve tried it before, in Cuba, the Soviet Union and then Jimmy Carter. Socialism is the first step and then there is communism. It never worked,” he declared.

Mr. Graumann is concerned that, if Obama is elected President, the economic crisis will keep worsening. Along with most Republicans, he believes that the roots of the current downturn are to be found not in the last eight years of the Bush Administration, but further back in the last few months of the Clinton Presidency. “Bush only came in at the wrong time, but the problems began earlier on,” Mr. Graumann claimed. “The first six-years under President Bush were very good from an economic standpoint,” Mr. Mazzoccoli echoed him, “then we began feeling the effects of the reckless low-income lending that was forced by Bill Clinton onto Fannie Mac and Freddie Mae.” According to them, it was the Democrats’ attempt to increase homeownership rates and help low-income earners to buy properties by means of subprime mortgages that triggered the excessive number of defaults and, as a result, unleashed the worst of the credit crunch.

Although both Mr. Graumann and Mr. Mazzoccoli acknowledge that the Bush Administration failed to take steps that could have mitigated the extent of the crisis, they excuse this failure with a national security argument: “Republicans made mistakes, but Bush had to defend our country, that was more important,” Mr. Mazzoccoli said. “We can’t let these people come in, bomb our buildings, kill 3,000 people and not go after them,” he stated. “Freedom is not free,” Mr. Mazzoccoli concluded before turning to the debate.

Sitting a few tables away, Anne Palmadesso, a senior resident of Woodbridge, was also getting ready to watch the face-off. She expected Senator McCain “to step up to the plate,” and to tackle issues of character and personality right from the start. “Character is very important,” self-employed Ms. Palmadesso argued, “Because, as President, they will act upon who they are.” She does not trust Barack Obama and thinks the Senator from Illinois is not clear on the direction in which he wants to take the country. Despite being worried about the fiscal policies of the Democrats and about “Obama’s socialist tendencies,” Ms. Palmadesso is one of those conservatives who vote primarily on the issue of abortion. “I’m rabidly pro-life,” Ms. Palmadesso declared.

Pro-life values are also Lori Bower’s motivation in voting for candidates. The director of a private child-care center in Fredericksburg and a forty-six year-old mother of four, Mrs. Bowers brought the entire family to L & B to celebrate the twelfth birthday of her youngest daughter while watching the debate.

Sitting next to her husband of fourteen years, also employed in the field of education, Mrs. Bower was attending her motherly duties by going through the proofs of her eighteen year-old son’s senior pictures. He will graduate from high school in the spring and join the Coast Guard. Mrs. Bower, who voted for President Bush both in ’00 and in ’04, said she was swayed toward the Republican ticket only late in the game, when Sarah Palin was selected as John McCain’s running mate at the end of August. “I really want to see a woman in office,” Mrs. Bower argued, “and Sarah is a young, fresh face who shares my values.”

Beyond adhering to a socially conservative worldview, it was hard to gauge exactly where Mrs. Bower stood on policies. She completely disapproved of the way President Bush handled the war in Iraq: “He went in with a mission of finishing his father’s job, independent of the situation on the ground. It’s time for him to go.” While hoping for a quick, but orderly, withdrawal of US troops from the Gulf, rapid enough so that her son will not have to be deployed, Mrs. Bower trusts John McCain more than she does Barack Obama, whose plan of withdrawal “does not outweigh McCain’s experience.” Explaining her distrust of Senator Obama, Mrs. Bower also made vague references to unfounded rumors that have been circulating in recent months about Sen. Obama’s supposed desire to be sworn into office on the Koran instead of the Bible.

Finally, Mrs. Bower pointed to the economy as her most pressing concern: “I know so many people whose homes have gone into foreclosures,” she said, “and my own paycheck has been held back a couple of times already because parents are not enrolling their children in my school anymore and we are short of funds.” However, Mrs. Bower didn’t appear to have a clear idea of exactly what policies she would want the next President to implement.

During the debate, the patrons at L & B Pizzeria reacted more passionately to exchanges on fiscal policy; they cheered Sen. McCain the loudest when he attacked Sen. Obama on wealth redistribution and government spending. The pro-life crowd made itself heard when John McCain pushed his anti-abortion agenda.

By the end of the face-off, the republicans gathered here seemed pleased with Sen. McCain’s performance: “I think the debate went very well, much better than the previous ones. Obama was on the defensive for most of it” judged Mike Graumann.

The GOP Presidential hopeful also met the expectations of Anne Palmadesso, who thought he had been forceful and upfront throughout the discussion. Joe Mazzoccoli joked: “I think Joe the plumber won it.” He also added that he was glad Sen. McCain had brought up the issue of Sen. Obama’s relation to Bill Ayers (a former member of the 1960s radical movement Weather Underground who is now a Professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago. A few years ago, Mr. Ayers sat on the board of the same non-profit organization as Barack Obama and Republicans have been trying to highlight this connection as a way to draw suspicions on the character of the Illinois Senator).

“McCain offered a lot of substance,” argued David Hahn, “he did a good job defending allegations made by Obama and attacking Obama’s policies.” Mr. Hahn, a property manager and small business owner with two children in college, has seen the value of his home decline by $300,000 in the last couple of years and he says he is mostly concerned about the economy.

He also attributes the roots of the crisis to the Clinton Administration and the subprime mortgages disaster. Mr. Hahn is wary of Obama’s proposed fiscal policies and believes that a Democratic Administration would raise taxes on people like himself: “I already pay enough taxes,” he avowed.

Despite being a life-long Republican, Mr. Hahn conceded that Sen. Obama also did a good job during the debate: “He is an eloquent speaker who speaks from the heart.” However, and offering an argument that, at least on the surface, might seem contradictory, Mr. Hahn claimed that forty-six year-old Barack Obama is too focused on the past, while seventy-two year-old John McCain is the candidate of the future: “The wind-chill is bigger than the rear-view mirror for a reason; you have to look ahead,” Mr. Hahn concluded.

Originally reported and written for Washington Prism

Washington DC – Recent demographic trends in America seem to point to a realignment of the country along more liberal lines and, hence, should carry Democrats to a victory in the November general elections. Those constituencies who generally vote democratic are growing across the country, and particularly in the most highly contested states, while the pool of traditional republican voters is shrinking.

These, at least, are the findings of a recently released study, “The Political Geography of America’s Purple States,” that William Frey and Ruy Teixeira, of the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, and James Barnes, political correspondent for the National Journal, discussed at an event hosted by the National Press Club in Washington DC.

While democrats struggle with the general white working class, they have been performing increasingly better with those white workers that have a college degree. In 1988, the margin the Democrats had over the Republicans with white college graduates was only 1 point. In 2004 it increased to 17 points. Moreover, and to the benefit of the Democrats, white college graduates are becoming an increasing share of the electorate.

Similarly, citizens who belong to ethnic minorities – and particularly Hispanics – are rapidly growing in number. Democrats have always banked on the support of these voters and, during the last electoral cycles, things have improved even further. According to Messrs. Teixeira and Frey, in 2004 the Democratic Party had a 19 points margin on the Republican Party with Hispanic voters. In the latest polls, this figure has almost doubled, to 38 points. Even more importantly, ethnic minorities comprise an increasing share of eligible voters in all of the states considered undecided in this year’s election, such as Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico and Virginia.

Thirdly, metropolitan areas are expanding, pushing the line between urban neighborhoods and rural ones further into the outer suburbs. Cities are by definition democratic strongholds.

Ohio is a perfect case study for the above trends. The Columbus metro area is the fastest growing in the state and has large populations of college graduates and minorities. As a result, in the last 20 years Columbus metro witnessed a 22-point shift in the direction of the Democrats.

Finally, while constituencies favorable to the Democrats are booming, those leaning Republicans are decreasing. Rural areas are among those where voters have shifted further to the right. However, they are also the ones where population is shrinking faster.

“If these trends fully materialize on November 4, if Democrats are able to elect young new Congressmen alongside the President, and if they’ll solidify these gains in the mid-term election of 2010, then this could be a historical election,” Ruy Teixeira commented; an election like that of 1980, which repositioned America to the right behind President Ronald Reagan.

In the meantime, to understand the factors that will decide the 2008 general election, National Journal’s James Barnes thinks it is important to keep an eye on Osceola County in Central Florida. Home of the I-4 Corridor between Tampa Bay and Orlando, Osceola has experienced a 48% population growth in the last eight years. Ethnic minorities have spurred the boom. In 2000, Democrat Al Gore carried the county, while it was George W. Bush to prevail in 2004. It seems like Osceola County might hold the secret to this year’s election.

Originally reported and written for Washington Prism

Thomas Frank is the author of best selling “What’s the Matter with Kansas?” and recently became a weekly columnist for the Wall Street Journal. In his newly published book, “The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule,” Mr. Frank describes what he believes to be the principles of conservative politics as a philosophy of laissez-faire.

He lays out how Republican Presidents and Congresses in the last twenty-eight years have, little by little, undermined the foundations of the liberal state and dismembered the U.S. Government, making it the inefficient and corrupt machine voters think it is today.

“The Wrecking Crew” begins with a witty portray of Washington DC in the new millennium. In Frank’s account, the national capital has become a city solely dominated by glass high-rises sprawling up in Rosslyn, across the Potomac in Virginia, inhabited by lobbyists in designer suits, and subjugated to the encompassing presence of private consulting firms and government contractors.

Mr. Frank wonders how metropolitan DC became one of the wealthiest regions in the country and the destination of choice for young ivy-leaguers seeking high paying jobs in the private sector, when it was once the place for passionate young men and women wanting to dedicate their lives to public service.

The answer, according to Frank, lies in the takeover of Washington DC by conservatives that began with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 and went into full force with the Newt Gingrich’s Congress in 1994.

Despising the liberal state while worshipping the Market, the conservative revolution, slowly but methodically, proceeded to disrupt the government from within: “Believing effective government to be somewhere between impossible and undesirable, conservatism takes steps to ensure its impotence,” writes Frank. To achieve their goals, conservatives used a variety of means. They shrank the role of government agencies they deeply distrusted by appointing some of those agencies’ staunchest opponents to run them.

Instead of letting government attend to the tasks it had always been responsible for, conservatives preferred handing over many of those tasks to private companies. Conservatives also understood, before and better than anyone else, the business potential of politics and successfully turned it into a lucrative enterprise with the help of industries such as lobbying. They also pushed for unconstrained deregulation to favor big corporations, and reduced public oversight of the private sector. As a result, Frank believes that conservatives created a fertile ground for corruption, wasteful spending and inefficiencies, and that they weakened the state to the point it had to give in to the power of money.

Thomas Frank’s tale of the conservative self-fulfilling prophecy on the futility of government is carefully researched and offers a wealth of details. The line-up of interviews, the historical analysis and the data presented are impressive and provide depth to Mr.

Frank’s argument. The book is also audacious, sharply written and often amusing. Thomas Frank’s relentless attack on conservatives, however, appear at times too narrowly focused, merely depicting Washington DC as a city abandoned into the hands of a bunch of reckless cowboys.

It makes the reader wonder what liberal Americans in the national capital and across the country were doing while the GOP was taking the US Government apart. Do they bear any responsibility for the ballooning deficit and the uncontrolled growth of the budget? Have they also mistakenly relied on tools so damaging to transparency in politics, such as lobbying? And what can Americans do today to get their country back on track?

In this interview with Washington Prism, Thomas Frank talks about “The Wrecking Crew,” Conservatism, and what it all means for the ongoing Presidential campaign.

Washington Prism (WP): In your book you portray the take-over of Washington DC by conservatives and their distaste for the liberal state. How would you describe their mission with regard to reforming the role of government?

Thomas Frank (TF): Conservative tradition doesn’t have a problem with government per se; they just want to be able to control it. Think of John Jay, for example. He once said: “The people who own the country ought to govern it.” What they really dislike is the liberal state. However, it’s hard even for conservatives to simply do away with all the agencies that that they dislike, such as the Department of Labor or the Environmental Protection Agency, because the public expects these agencies to exist. Conservatives can’t simply abolish them, and so they decided to capture them from the inside and then use them for goals different from those that they were originally set up with.

WP: Laying out the means that the Republicans used to fail the liberal state, you mention an excessive reliance on private contractors, deregulation, and the growth of lobbying. Where were the Democrats while all of this was taking place and why have they not been capable of preserving the liberal state?

TF: The reality is that there are plenty of Democrats that are conservatives. During the Reagan years Congress was in the hands of the Democrats but Ronald Reagan had his way because there were plenty of Democratic Congressmen that went along with him, supporting free-market ideals and a policy of laissez-fair.

The larger problem, however, is the ever-growing role of money in politics, which has pulled the Democrats, as well as the Republicans, to the right. When I was growing up, until the 1980s, I always had the feeling that Republicans would be able to win a Presidential Election here and there but would never be able to control Congress because the majority of the people were democrats because they were working-class. The Democrats used to appeal to these voters on the basis of economic issues, but the problem became that these issues are not popular with people who fund politics. The Democrats have been faced with this dilemma for years and they have not found a solution.

WP: As a response to the ongoing financial crisis, the Bush Administration is stepping in with government money to rescue private businesses gone badly. How would you explain this in the theoretical framework of small government, free market and laissez-faire that you describe as the conservative trademark?

TF: Nobody really believes in free market, it’s just an ideological slogan. What conservatives believe in is class power, and of course they’re going to rescue these big corporations. There is also another argument, that some of these institutions must be rescued or it’ll be the destruction of the financial system. This is definitely is the case of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. You wouldn’t be able to get a mortgage in the U.S. anymore, had the government not rescued them. In any case, the market has done this to itself and it’s a problem for conservatives. I think it’s embarrassing to them and that it will be embarrassing for McCain. This is a philosophy of government, based on deregulation, which was put on trial and is failing miserably. It has returned markets to what they were before the New Deal and it should not surprise anyone that the markets are behaving like they were behaving then, with these unexpected crashes.

WP: Watching the ongoing Presidential Campaign, one would think that all candidates read your book and are now running against broken Washington. Polls suggest that voters are accepting the claim on the part of both Obama and McCain. How do you explain a Republican running on a platform of change after eight years of GOP Administration? Is there something about John McCain and Sarah Palin that makes the claim legitimate?

TF: I don’t know, I don’t know. You people in the media seem to believe him. It’s ridiculous. This is the party that has ruled Washington on and off for twenty years. I agree that McCain has been on the off with his party on a few occasion, but he agrees with the philosophy of George W. Bush. Yes, he’s not personally corrupt, and in that sense he is o.k. And Sarah Palin is definitely not from DC.

They clearly went to find her as far as possible from DC. But they still believe in the same philosophy. I don’t honestly know why people believe him; it’s preposterous that he can talk about change. The truth is that these people live and breathe cynicism. They are cynic about government, about voters, about everything. That’s the nature of the beast.

WP: Do you have anything positive to say about conservatives and Republican politics?

TF: I was a Republican when I was young. Everyone in Kansas is a Republican, but we used to have very liberal Republicans. McCain talks a lot about Teddy Roosevelt. He was a great President. Unfortunately liberal Republicans are gone and they won’t come back. After the 1960s, the two parties sorted themselves out. Before, you would have very conservative Democrats from the South and very liberal Republicans, especially from the Northeast. But today, if you are going to be a liberal, you will become a Democrat.

WP: What should the Democrats do to appeal to voters in defense of the liberal state?

Democrats have to appeal to blue-collar workers by talking about economic issues. They must emphasize how the current government has not been able to respond to their needs. They need to fight hard for social security. It’s really important that they reach out to blue-collar voters. For example, and I don’t think they will do it, but if they said that they were going to renegotiate NAFTA, they would win the elections in a heartbeat.

WP: NAFTA is an international agreement. Don’t you think that the Democrats can only promise so much, because renegotiating it will depend on other countries and factors beyond the Democrats’ control?

TF: We can do whatever the heck we want; we are Americans (laughing). If we decided to renegotiate NAFTA, we could. Can you imagine if the Americans started pushing the whole world to the left? Instead of invading Iraq, renegotiated NAFTA? What would the rest of the world think (laughing)?

Originally reported and written for Washington Prism

St Louis, MO – As Democrat Joe Biden battled Republican Sarah Palin Thursday night at Washington University in the only Vice-Presidential debate, many St Louis residents watched the face-off from the comfort of their living rooms, at a variety of private parties, and at a public viewing organized by small liberal arts college Webster University in the nearby town of Webster Groves.

A crowd of about one hundred students, alumni, and staff congregated at Webster student center.

Former Missouri Governor Bob Holden, a Democrat who is now the director of the college’s public affairs forum, organized a free “watch party”  open to the public, with a giant flat screen TV, pizza and soda.

In the hours leading to the debate, most people expressed little faith in Governor Palin’s ability to engage in a serious discussion and expected a dreadful performance. At the same time, many were worried that Senator Biden would come across condescending and professorial.

Arthur Banks, a fifty-three year-old former restaurant worker now on disability, stated: “I know Palin will make a lot of mistakes tonight.” Mr. Banks, who will vote for Barack Obama because he is afraid that John McCain will cut entitlements, had watched Gov. Palin’s interview with CBS Katie Couric and was prepared for the worst.

A group of “neighborhood moms against Sarah Palin,” shared similar pessimistic views: “I think Palin will stay away from answering the questions, will relentlessly attack Biden, and will try to divert people’s attention from her lack of knowledge,” commented Sue Hyde. These women were also concerned that Sen. Biden could stumble, if he ever looked like he was patronizing Sarah Palin: “I’m really glad that the moderator is a woman – Gwen Ifill of PBS – because it will give Palin less ground to complain about being treated unfairly,” Jacquelin Bauder maintained.

After the debate was over however, most people agreed that none of what they had feared came true. Sarah Palin looked more confident than in her interviews with Katie Couric and Charlie Gibson, and Joe Biden focused exclusively on attacking John McCain’s policies, never engaging the Governor of Alaska directly or taking on her personal positions.

At Webster University, the audience watched the debate intently and participated with laughter, applauses and booing. Almost exclusively Democrats, they often followed the hints from Joe Biden’s facial expressions in deciding when and how loud to laugh at comments made by Sarah Palin.

According to the majority, the debate turned out better than anticipated, both candidates performed above expectations and the discussion was more interesting and substantive than the first Presidential debate between Senators McCain and Obama.

While still disliking Governor Palin, many in the audience thought that she did a good job. “I think both Biden and Palin were able to put a few key points in,” said Colette Cummings, an employee at Webster, “Biden spoke well on the economy and Palin stressed energy.” Ms. Cummings is an Obama supporter and disagrees with Gov. Palin’s view on same-sex marriage.

Susan Napoleon was impressed by the smooth flow of the debate: “There really were no hiccups and pregnant pauses and they both appeared confident, well-spoken and knowledgeable.” Ms. Napoleon, who is the coordinator of the Dean’s Office at the School of Communication, will vote for Obama although she says she doesn’t trust him.

Thursday night’s debate helped her learning more about Obama’s running mate Joe Biden: “I thought he was a hot head and instead he was very confident with his viewpoint and just genuinely himself.” As for Sarah Palin, Ms. Napoleon agreed with the assessment that she performed above expectations: “She was very consistent with the image she was trying to portray as the Governor of Alaska,” Ms. Napoleon commented.

Although in her opinion Gov. Palin did not fully succeed, this was her way of trying to respond to the criticism that she is not qualified for the vice-presidency.

“I’m glad I watched the debated,” stated Kara Beckman, “it confirmed that I’m making the right choice.” A senior at Webster, Ms. Beckman will vote for Obama because he “understands the average American.” Ms. Beckman was pleased with Sen. Biden’s performance because he used facts and numbers to back his statements, whereas Gov. Palin “was just talk.” Ms. Beckman’s fellow student and friend Andrea Hale complained that Sarah Palin “dodged the questions,” and kept repeating the same campaign lines over and over again.

Ismaeel Snipes, also a student at Webster, will vote for Barack Obama because he thinks Obama’s economic plan is better than John McCain’s, because Obama is “truly in touch with 21^st Century foreign policy,” and because Sen. McCain supports President Bush’s policies. Nevertheless, Mr. Snipes is a fan of Sarah Palin: “I like her energy and her personal values,” he claimed. In Mr. Snipes’ opinion, Gov. Palin held her own throughout the debate and performed much better than he thought. Mr. Snipes was also extremely pleased with Joe Biden’s act: “He was never condescending, he was respectful, and yet he always held his ground and was Presidential. And he even became emotional,” he says referring to the moment when Joe Biden shed a few sincere tears talking about the car accident that, in 1972, killed his first wife and his thirteen month-old baby girl and gravely injured his two sons.

Almost unanimously people who watched the debate at Webster agreed that their positive assessment of Gov. Palin’s performance was partially due to the fact that expectations had been set very low, particularly by last week’s interview with Katie Couric. Not surprisingly, the only person who thought Gov. Palin had done a worse job was senior Kara Beckman and she had not seen the Governor on CBS.

As a conclusion, most viewers shared a positive evaluation of the whole of the debate, thought that Gov. Palin did a better job than anticipated but, in the end, declared Joe Biden the winner. A poll conducted among CNN viewers appears to confirm these reactions: 84% of viewers felt Gov. Palin outperformed herself, while still feeling that Sen. Biden did a better job overall.  51% to 36% thought he won the debate.

Originally reported and written for Washington Prism

Paducah, Kentucky – Bill Rayburn came to this small town at the juncture between the Tennessee and the Ohio rivers when he was 19 year-old and had $19 in his pockets. $5 went to renting a room for the night: “I was one of 11 children and my dad was the town drunk,” he recalls. Fifty-three years later, Mr. Rayburn owns a pawnshop on Broadway Street, at the heart of Paducah’s historic downtown, and he says he is worth millions: “I made my money with the stock market,” Mr. Rayburn explains, adding that his investments are still safe despite the crash of Wall Street.

He put his money over a long period of time into the stocks of a regional bank with conservative lending policies, and this strategy has kept him shielded by the recent fall in the market.

Beside stocks, Mr. Rayburn enjoys collecting Democratic memorabilia from local and national political campaigns and he has a large collection of buttons, stickers and posters scattered around his store. “I was a Hillary fan,” Mr. Rayburn maintains, “but I will vote for Obama although I’ll have to close my eyes.” He believes that Senator Obama does not have enough experience in the foreign policy arena to be President. Mr. Rayburn also adds that he would like the Democratic ticket more if it was reversed, with Joe Biden, whom he deeply appreciates, at the top.

Mr. Rayburn is getting ready to watch the Vice-Presidential debate Thursday night, although he has very low expectations, especially of Republican candidate Sarah Palin. In Mr. Rayburn’s opinion, the choice of Gov. Palin will end up hurting Senator McCain in the long run: “Before everything is over, McCain will regret not having picked somebody else,” Mr. Rayburn argues. He also claims that Gov. Palin knows very little about foreign policy and that she looked “like an eight grader” during her interview with Katie Couric on CBS.

In Paducah, a conservative-leaning town, not many share the views of Bill Rayburn. Wayne Roberts is a waiter at a local restaurant, right by the riverfront. He will vote for John McCain although he is a registered Democrat (though the last Democratic Presidential candidate Mr. Roberts voted for was Jimmy Carter back in 1976).

This year, Mr. Roberts was swayed by Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin’s pro-life stance: “I don’t believe in abortion at all,” he states. Mr. Roberts especially likes Sarah Palin, particularly her straightforward attitude: “If she can do for the country what she did for Alaska, that would be wonderful,” he says explaining that he is not worried by Gov. Palin’s relatively short political career.

“She is my kind of a woman,” echoes Marcia C., a retired banker who requested that she be identified by her first name. “Sarah Palin is conservative, has a nice family with many children and she likes outdoorsy activities, she is just like me,” continues Marcia C. On Wednesday afternoon, she was part of a group of local retirees celebrating the ninetieth birthday of a fellow citizen of Paducah in a park near the rivers.

Marcia is also a registered Democrat, but identifies herself as a social conservative and is very often attracted to Republican candidates. Marcia does not worry about Gov. Palin’s inexperience because she believes that, at the end of the day, Congress has more power than the White House. Marcia’s opinion of the legislative branch is very negative: “If I take you, a good person, and I put you in Congress, within six months you’ll be rotten,” she claims forcefully.

A few days earlier, in Nashville, Tennessee, another swing voter named Marcia had expressed a similarly positive opinion of Gov. Palin. “I like Sarah’s raw energy, it represents the real strength of America,” Marcia Garner had said. A retired teacher, Ms. Garner has registered with both parties in the past and has often changed her voting patterns.

This year she will cast her ballot for John McCain, although she confessed to be worried about Sen. McCain’s age. However, Ms. Garner added: “I’m relieved that someone young can be there to take his place were anything to happen to him.” A fiscal conservative, Ms. Garner is not socially conservative and does not share Gov. Palin’s strictly pro-life views: “I don’t think abortion is a good thing, but I can’t really say that I’m completely opposed to it,” Ms. Garner explained.

Interestingly, Gov. Palin’s scant experience in national politics seems easily brushed aside. Conservative pundits might have started questioning her credibility, but conservative voters in general do not seem to care about it. And occasionally one also sees Democrats insisting that Gov. Palin’s lack of experience doesn’t seem to matter.

Cleopatra Lewis is an Obama supporter and says she doesn’t “know if Gov. Palin has enough experience to become vice-president, but I don’t think anybody knows if she is capable until she is put in that position.” “I’m hoping that my vote will count and that Barack wins,” says the 30 year-old African American hotel worker from Nashville. Divorced and the mother of two young children, Ms. Lewis believes that the media blew Gov. Palin’s family and personal life out of proportion: “Those are personal issues and should not matter.”

Voters in states like Tennessee and Kentucky are normally moderate to conservative. It definitely seems that, at least in the so-called Bible belt, only active, engaged Democrats worry about Sarah Palin’s credentials, while many other people either do not care or hold a positive opinion of the Governor of Alaska.

Originally reported and written for Washington Prism