My wife and I counted the Obama v. McCain signs on U.S. 20 across the northern tier of the two Ohio Counties west of Toledo yesterday. To count, the sign had to be in front of a residence. Orphan signs or signs in front of a place of business did not count.
This is solid Republican territory, and what we found should give us hope.
While this is far from a scientific poll, it shows, at a minimum, there is real support for Obama, even in the hinterlands of a staunchly Republican area.
There were 23 Barack Obama signs to 20 McCain signs in the stretch of U.S. 20 from the Western Lucas County Line to the Indiana State Line, covering the Counties of Fulton and Williams.
This is truly amazing when you look at the demographics of these counties.
Fulton County:
Fulton County, Ohio is a rock solid Republican County. The County Commissioners are almost always chosen in the Republican Primary. Named for Robert Fulton, inventor of the steam boat, in 2004 Bush/Cheney took 62.1% to the Kerry/Edwards ticket of 37.5%.
Williams County:
Williams County was named for David Williams (21 October 1754 - 2 August 1831), one of the three militiaman during the American Revolution who, in 1780, captured Major John André. (the other two militiamen, Paulding and Van Wert, also have Northwest Ohio Counties named for them).
Williams County is even more Republican than Fulton County. The Bush/Cheney ticket won with 64.6% in 2004, v. the Kerry/Edwards 34.8%. Yet in the Village of Alvordton there were 2 Obama signs and none for McCain!
It gets better! Today, on the way back home, there were 2 more Obama signs up, both in Fayette, Ohio, in western Fulton County!
Final tally, Obama 25, McCain 20!
This might not seem like much to the rest of you, but when you have lived in this part of the country as long as I have it is simply unheard of. If you see ANY Democratic candidate signs it is unusual.
Of course you might say that this simply means Obama has a better ground game than McCain, and of course you would be right, but it also shows that a heck of a lot of people have the courage to put their positions out for all to see, something that is not easy to do in these heavily Republican Counties.
Now to put this in context, we continued to count signs for the first 20 miles into the State of Indiana. This is Steuben County. Bush/Cheney ( Republican): 65.3% Kerry/Edwards (Democratic): 33.7%. I have very seldom seen any glimmer of support for a Democratic Presidential Candidate here. The sign count? 11 for McCain, 7 for Obama.
Actually, if we hadn't seen the incredible number of Obama signs in Ohio, we would have thought this was tremendous!
[Footnote: Even if we had counted Orphan signs the result would have been to decrease the Obama margin by one.] So I hope this gives a little courage to those of you, like me, who are simply ill with worry!