I know that many folks on this site may disagree with my suggestion in this diary, but I have to say it! As an ardent Obama supporter, about the only thing that I have been dissapointed with the Senator with during this campaign has been the fact he has not really made that much of an effort to reach out to Appalachia. Visiting Kentucky and West Virginia once or twice in the run up to each state's repspective primaries doesn't quite cut it in my opinion. This has to change between now and the general election, and here is why.
More below the fold.
Appalachia stretches into several key swing states including Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina. I realize that Obama is not going to win many counties in Appalachia in a matchup against McCain, and in fact due to racism, there are several Appalachian counties that went for Kerry that will probably not go for Obama. Nevertheless, making sure that the gap with Appalachians is smaller will play a critical role in ensuring success in the above mentioned swing states. For example, losing 62-38 instead of 78-22 could potentially swing any one of these states on election day. And while I know that getting out the vote in his strongholds in these swing states is also critical, I have a feeling that turnout is going to be at record highs in his strongholds anyway, and cutting down McCain's margins in his strongholds could pay dividends.
Furthermore, Harold Ford Jr. proved that many people who would otherwise be disinclined to vote for a black man will do so if they get a chance to know the person. I know that many on this site don't like Harold Ford because of his Centrist politics, but the fact remains that he came very close to becoming the first African American to win a Senate seat in the South since reconstruction, and he didn't almost pull off this feat by just swelling his vote totals in Memphis and Nashville. He outperformed Kerry in almost every county in the state including those in Appalachia. He accomplished this feat by traveling to every corner of the state. Hell he even came to my father's blugrass picking parlor, Bluegrass at Bellamy's, in Surgoinsville, Tennessee, which is hardly a bastion of progressive politics (although my Uncle, who is a democrat was elected mayor in a landslide a couple of years ago due to the fact that his Republican predecessor really flubbed things up). Although this didn't result in him winning these counties, it did allow him to reduce his opponent's margin of victory to such a degree that he almost pulled off an amazing upset. For example in Hawkins County, where I was born and raised, Kerry lost to Bush 67-33 in 2004, but in 2006 Ford lost Hawkins County by a vote of 58-40. Did Ford's visit to Bluegrass at Bellamy's help him win votes and close that margin significantly? You bet it did. It created a buzz in town; many actually got to meet the man (and you can say what you want about Ford but if you ever meet the guy in person you'll find it hard not to like him); and generated some local news coverage as well.
I agree that racism has a lot to do with why Obama is struggling in Appalachia, but as someone who has lived his entire life in Appalachia (with the sole exception of the 6 months that I lived in Nashville, Tennessee while working as an intern for the State House Judiciary committe), I honestly believe that much of this racism isn't based on hatred so much as it is on ignorance. The fact is that many people in Appalachia don't know very many black people. I know that in my elementary and middle school, there were 2 African Americans, and in my high school of about 900 students, there were maybe 10 African Americans. These kind of demographics are pretty common throughout Appalachia, and in some places there are even fewer African Americans. Of course, there is a lot more diversity in Appalachia than most people realize as many Appalachians are not exactly all Scotch Irish. Nevertheless, many people are afraid of what they aren't familiar with.
The bottom line is that in the near future, Obama needs to do a week long bus tour through Appalachia. He needs to get to know the people of this region. He needs to attend some bluegrass shows, and show an appreciation and respect for the culture of the region. But even more importantly, he needs to let the people of this region know that he understands their concerns and that he is will not forget them when he is elected President. This region has all too often been forgetten except for when it has been when it has been raped by the coal companies, or used in the punch line of jokes about "hillbillies." As a party, we simply can't afford to simply write off this entire region in the fall, and besides doing so would betray the principles behind our 50 state strategy, which has served us pretty well the last couple of years. But even more importantly, as a nation we have a moral duty to reach out to this region, many parts of which still suffer from abject poverty.
Anyway, that's my rant. I know that many here may disagree, but at least I've put in my two cents.