Analysis: 'Hillary Democrats' could be up for grabs

[DeepModem Mom]

WP/AP: Analysis: 'Hillary Democrats' could be up for grabs
By NEDRA PICKLER
The Associated Press
Friday, May 9, 2008

WASHINGTON -- With the racially tinged Democratic race drawing to an awkward close, Barack Obama and John McCain face the challenge of winning over "Hillary Democrats" -- the white, working-class voters who favored the former first lady over Obama's historic candidacy....Clinton won more than two-thirds of the white voters without college degrees in the last three primaries -- Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Indiana -- according to exit polls conducted for The Associated Press and the television networks. When those Clinton supporters were asked who they would vote for in an Obama-McCain matchup, just fewer than half said they would support Obama. Three in 10 said they would vote for McCain and the rest said they wouldn't vote for either....

***

Republican pollster Whit Ayres said that based on focus groups he has conducted in swing states, including Missouri, Michigan and Florida, Clinton's claim that she would do better than Obama with blue-collar white voters is believable. He said those voters support her because of the prosperous economic times they experienced when her husband was president. He also said they are uncomfortable with Obama because of his relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who created a furor with his divisive comments, and questions about Obama's patriotism. "It's cultural," Ayres said....

***

(McCain strategist Charlie) Black said if McCain is to win over any "Hillary Democrats," he'll have to work for them and earn them, and he plans to do that. "I think you'll see particularly his economic message and his health care message in very populous terms, and that he'll be talking to and meeting with people in that category," Black said. "A lot of these voters are conservative. A lot of them believe in a strong national defense."

They also believe in their guns, said strategist Mudcat Sanders, who advises Democrats on rural issues. "He's got one thing he's got to do and he's got to say it clearly. He's got to say, `I'm not going to take anybody's gun,'" Sanders said. Obama has done that at times, such as when he was campaigning for Western voters. "It's not a litmus test. It shows you are in line with the culture." Sanders said if Obama does that and spends time getting to know rural voters, he can win them over. "He's got to embrace the culture is what he's got to do," Sanders said. "The boy's IQ looks like Pete Rose's liftime batting average. It's off the charts. But at the same token, that comes off to us as big city. The big city thing John Kerry never could shake, I think, is Obama's problem right now. But I think he can get those voters and lot more if he just gets out there among the people so they can get to know him."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/09/AR2008050902173_pf.html

[klook]

1. The influx of newly minted Obama Democrats

could offset the white flight of Hillary Democrats to the McSame exurbs.

It boggles my mind at how some Dems can't understand that there might be some value in attracting some of the millions of people who are too disgusted or uninterested to vote in most elections. One of the most heartening aspects of this election cycle is to see all the new voters signing up to vote Democratic.

OK, I'm not naive. I know some of them are Operation Chaos Republicans who've been signing up to vote for Clinton in the open-primary states. So if they "flee" the Democratic Party, which they were only visiting temporarily anyway, that's maybe not too damaging for the Dems.

[NWHarkness]

2. Nedra Pickler?

Have you ever looked at this hack's track record?

She's one of the worst of the worst.

[DeepModem Mom]

3. She's been a Bush "hack," but there's not so much in the press about him lately...

and she's the writer of quite a few of AP's stories. I thought this one wasn't so bad -- although I don't think I realized she's now considered an "analyst."