I've been calling Kentucky for Barack. At one home, when I asked for the voter, the lady identified herself as his wife and asked if she could take a message. I said I was happy to speak to her and I was calling for Barack Obama and asked the lady if we could count on her support.
She said she was undecided. So I started to explain why I thought Barack Obama would bring the country together blah, blah, blah....
And she took over.
This lady told me that her husband thinks Barack is brilliant. She told me she could never vote for Hillary. And she told me she thinks McCain's not all there.
Then she took my breath away. She said she's Republican and since it's not an open primary, well, she can't vote on the 20th for Barack.
BUT SHE WILL BE THERE FOR HIM IN NOVEMBER BECAUSE HE'S BRILLIANT AND IS WHO WE NEED TO BE PRESIDENT.
I asked her if she would volunteer since she expressed better than I can why we need Barack Obama as president. She declined, unfortunately...but at least I tried.
So just to be sure, I called the campaign central office to confirm that Kentucky is a closed primary and that it's too late to re register as a Democrat. YES and YES. I then mentioned that I had just spoken to a Republican voter who is crazy about Obama, thinks McCain is not all there and would never support Clinton. The person I spoke to said that they were hearing back about this quite a lot.
I said I was worried that if Barack loses Kentucky big, as expected, we'll hear the pundits jumping on the "why can't he win this voter or that voter....blah blah blah." I asked if the campaign intends to shed light on this phenomenon and was told....OOOOH YEAH!
So to recap:
- Republican woman, probably in her sixties based on our chat.
- Living near Lexington Kentucky, which I suspect leans Republican.
- Admires Barack Obama because he is brilliant and we need his leadership.
- Agrees that the country has been on the wrong course for 7 1/2 years and that Barack is our best hope to change course onto a sustainable path.
- States, unsolicited, that she would never vote for Hillary Clinton.
- States, unsolicited, that she feels that McCain is not all there.
BARACK OBAMA, SIR:
YOU HAVE BEEN DOING A DARN GOOD JOB OF UNITING THE PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTRY.
YOU'VE TAKEN MY BREATH AWAY.
THANK YOU SIR, GOOD LUCK! AND GOOD LUCK TO ALL OF US.