Bill Clinton trumpets folksy message in North Carolina

[DeepModem Mom]

Boston Globe: Bill Clinton trumpets folksy message in N.C.
By Susan Milligan
Globe Staff / May 2, 2008

DUNN, N.C. - Sporting a well-tailored suit and arriving in a chauffeured black car, Bill Clinton is quietly working to win over small-town crowds with a populist message: Don't diss Wal-Mart shoppers. At one of a dizzying series of appearances this week on his wife's behalf in rural North Carolina, the former president scoffed at an unnamed "snooty" columnist who had poked fun at his wooing of ordinary working folk.

"They think we're dumber than we are," Clinton said from the front porch of a local museum, drawing hoots from the crowd. "I grew up in a place like this. I know people here are as smart as anywhere else. They haven't figured that out yet," Clinton said of the political and media establishment.

Rural towns like Dunn are Hillary Clinton's best hope to wrest the Democratic nomination from Barack Obama, who leads in the delegate count but trails the New York senator among lower-income people. These are the voters who spurred Clinton to victory in Pennsylvania last week and could boost her on Tuesday in North Carolina and Indiana as well as in later contests in West Virginia and Kentucky.

While Bill Clinton's gaffes have been frequently spotlighted in the national media, he appears to be building good will among rural voters, who are vital to keeping his wife's campaign alive. And although Clinton's rock star appeal may have faded since his own candidate days, the 11 small communities he visited in North Carolina this week were thrilled to have a political celebrity in their midst.

The former president frequently noted that Senator Clinton won more than 60 percent of the vote in Pennsylvania towns where he had held a "front porch" event. "Please don't break my string," he pleaded, half in jest, to a couple hundred voters in Lumberton after a grueling day of small-town campaigning....

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/05/02/bill_clinton_trumpets_folksy_message_in_nc/?page=full