For the most part, I left my hometown when I was 18. Family and friends still live there, and I manage to visit at least a few times a year. I like to feel "in the loop" in many ways, so I take a look at the local newspaper's site occasionally to keep up on recent news.
There were a few stories in the last couple of weeks that caught my attention and I wanted to share them. The one involes a shoutout to Daily Kos and a (slightly outdated) update on the PA-03 congressional race. The others show the levels of poverty and hardship that exists in the area where I grew up. However, it is not alone - my former county ranks 17th in unemployment out of Pennsylvania's 67 counties. Things seem bad enough there, I'd hate to see what it's like in the other 16 counties.
The story I saw today was definitely the saddest one I've seen in quite some time. It's about two sisters who are both unemployed and travel around town pulling a red wagon behind them, collecting various bits of trash. As the story's author compares them to Joe the Plumber, he says:
Unlike Joe, who has become a poster boy for John McCain in an attempt to sway the common folk to the GOP, Sonya and Clara support Barack Obama and the Democrat’s vision for America.
Forget about owning a small business, Sonya and Clara are sisters who scavenge for scrap metal to make ends meet.
"We do it every day," Clara Haney said. "Sometimes we do it all day."
Many days they are able to sell their scrap for as much as $200, other days they may only get $60. The sisters claim that they also get the added benefit of helping the environment through their search. After complaining about the local economy, one sister says:
"It’s crazy," she said. "I just wanted everything to get better. I don’t want them (her kids) to be growing up in a messed-up world."
I really admire these women for their determination and their ingenuity. At the same time, wouldn't it be nice if they had an actual job to go to and didn't have to worry about collecting trash in order to care for their children? Mercer County currently has a 6.8% unemployment rate that will probably only get worse. It's an area that used to have tons of industry...steel mills and other types of factories. One of the major employers in the area are now retail establishments...but many people I know who work in retail have either had their hours drastically cut or were laid off altogether.
One of the few remaining steel tube manufacturers in the area just recently announced that over 200 workers, (almost half of its work force) will be laid off. About 140 of those will get to return after a short hiatus, while others won't get to come back until business improves. With sales down, production is obviously down. There's just no way they can keep everyone employed with such a drop in sales.
And that brings me to the DKos shout out and the update on the PA-03 house race between Phil English (R-inc.) and Kathy Dahlkemper (D). The story mentions the results of the recent Research 2000 poll "on behalf of the progressive political blog Daily Kos" and mentions that English slammed the results...saying that the poll used "ridiculous methodology." (It found English trailing Dahlkemper 48 to 41). Even though English slammed the poll, the article included this bit:
An article in The Rothenberg Political Report, a Washington, D.C., newsletter, said the Daily Kos was ’breaking the mold’ by commissioning nonpartisan polling. Daily Kos head Markos Moulitsas also said in the article that he is publishing all results, regardless of the findings.
I got the impression that it was in there to sort of counter English's slam. More than anything, I was just kind of surprised to see DKos mentioned in my hometown paper, since it tends to have a reputation for being sort of out of touch and behind the times.
Now I've seen several bits of analysis on DKos regarding the PA-03 race, so I won't bore everyone by picking it apart again. I would like to take a second to provide a bit of personal insight/commentary into the race as well as the recent news that McCain plans to up his effort in PA.
English came into office via the 1994 election with the flood of other Republicans. English's predecessor was Tom Ridge, who left the district to run for governor. The district covers a large chunk of northwestern Pennsylvania, from Erie down to Butler. While much of the area trends conservative, Mercer County usually leans Democratic. English does have his fans in the area, even though there are many people that feel like he ignores Mercer County in favor of Erie. This tends to be a theme with people from Mercer County - they often feel like they're the wicked stepchild of the state and the district. I can't tell you how many rants I've heard about "Eastern Pa politicians" who "don't give a crap about us." McCain has supporters in the area who will probably vote for him regardless. With the news that he plans to spend a great deal of time in the state and will focus most of his energy on the Philadelphia suburbs, I can't help hoping that he will step on some toes and lose a few votes. It may sound petty, but there's an odd mentality around some of those areas...I would not be surprised if people hold a grudge over the attention paid to the Eastern half of the state. I already know of several people in Mercer County who planned to vote for McCain until he chose Palin...now they either plan to vote for Obama or stay home (although I've been working on the stay homes).
Hopefully many people in Mercer County and across Pennsylvania will vote for Obama for the same reason that the two sisters plan to - because his policies will help the lower and middle classes. So many in that county and around the state are hurting right now - they are more than ready for change.
For extra info, here are links to those stories:
Sisters Spend Part of Every Day Scavenging to Make Ends Meet
Tube Plant Idles 200 Workers
PA-03 Congressional Race and DKos shoutout