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My mother is a life long Democrat who discusses politics every single day - and because she has macular degeneration she calls me to find out "what's on the internet" because she has trouble reading because of her eyesight and she distrusts the MSM.
I picked her up today for the weekly food shop trip that we both do at the same time as she can't drive, and she told me that nearly every senior ( mostly women living at the housing complex in MA) have recently told her that they will either not vote in Nov or that they are starting to consider McCain because they hate what they are hearing recently from both the Clinton and Obama campaigns.
My mother and her neighbors are FDR Democrats - Depression babies - my mother graduated from high school in 1945 and these seniors have seen it all. I am on the Democratic Town Committee in this town and one of our members lives at this complex as well - one of the "youngsters" at around 70-75. My mother and that fellow Committee member were reporting strong John Edwards support right up until he dropped out.
It's a scary thing to hear these "Depression babies" compare the economic conditions that we are seeing now to what they remember - going without, making hard choices; the general consensus seems to be that the race at this point has sunk into being about those 2 as individuals and that the serious situation we have right in front of us is getting short shrift. And they resent it.
Consider this post a heads up from a state that was won by Hillary and is pretty reliably Democratic..... we Democrats can take nothing for granted.
The Democratic Convention in Denver better be more than whining about delegate numbers - people who will be making speeches at the Convention should start working on them now and they should address the reality that Americans are facing AND how it has been the policies of Republicans that have gotten us to this point.
Here's some more advice - the bi-partisan rhetoric that Obama relies on in his stump speeches? It isn't working with this group. This is the group that remembers FDR chanting "Martin, Barton, and Fish" and getting things done. They aren't in the mood to make nice.
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