Obama Courts Michigan Votes

On Monday, Senator Barack Obama continued his pitch for the presidency in the battleground state of Michigan (full story “Obama outlines economic strategy in Michigan” by Debby Elliot at National Public Radio http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94407515). Michigan traditionally votes Democrat because of the blue-collar auto workers concentrated in the eastern part of the state. These same workers are now feeling the effects of the highest unemployment rate in the country as more and more auto industry jobs move elsewhere. Speaking in Flint and Detroit, Obama addressed the concerns of these disillusioned workers: Obama promised to cut taxes on the middle class, offer tuition breaks for community service, and invest in infrastructure to “retool the auto industry.” Standing in front of a hybrid SUV, he postured as the means to realize this community’s dreams.
Communication, image, and appropriate focus all play an important role in the general election. In Flint, Senator Obama spoke at a community college and in Detroit at a town hall meeting, emphasizing his commitment to the domestic auto industry and winning over voters. Change has become a key issue in both campaigns as each candidate seeks to dissociate himself with business as usual in Washington. Both candidates have skillfully wooed different segments of the voting population by discussing the reforms most pertinent to the people they are addressing. People in Michigan are out of work because the automotive jobs have left the state (retooling the auto industry). Some are finding themselves back in school, or with children they want to put through school so they can have access to better jobs (tuition breaks). And taxes on this middle class are making unemployment and tuition payments even more difficult (cutting taxes on the middle class). Standing in front of the hybrid hope for the future of Michigan’s main industry doesn’t hurt either. As Wayne discusses in Chapter 3 of Road to the White House, partisanship is a lens through which we view the campaign; hitting home a message of hope in a state with a Democratic lean will certainly help Obama in November.
The most interesting aspect of this article to me, a Michigan resident, is that it depicts Michigan as one of the key states in the general election while completely ignoring the state’s fiasco of a Democratic primary. Obama campaigning in a state where his name was not even on the primary election ballot is certainly baffling, at first glance. Michigan, together with Florida, decided to move up its primary to January, putting itself on the level of Iowa and further “front-loading” the primary election. I’m unclear as to why this change took place and the problems it posed for the Democrats, but essentially Democrats did not campaign in the state to win its primary delegates, and Hillary Clinton’s name was the only one on the Democratic ticket—not exactly a fair contest (full details at “Fate of Michigan, Florida delegates on the table” by Alex Chadwick at National Public Radio http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90828052). We’ll see if Obama fares better in the general election.