Rick Perlstein of the Village
Voice has been on the road in the heartland of America. His essay
on the Wal-Mart voters of the heartland who overwhelmingly
supported Bush in 2000 offers a glimpse into the election of 2004 and
what the Democratic nominee must do to win.
"In the middle of November, I spent five days in four
Illinois counties where Bush was successful in 2000 to see
whether support for him was peeling off in areas especially hard
hit by the jobless recovery. The answer offers some surprising
political lessons....This worker fears Wal-Mart more than he
fears weapons of mass destruction. Because he knows which one is
more likely to end up in his future. Americans who fear Wal-Mart
more than apparitional WMDs (and apparitional dreadlocked drug
dealers) are proliferating every dayand must be made to
proliferate more, for the sake of our nation. This is the
Democratic Party's hope: convincing Red America they can provide
an economy that's safe for the whole family."
Rob is the founder of the progressive news site robwire.com