My visit to Red country
by Radical Middle
Sun Oct 03, 2004 at 05:41:33 PM PDT
On thursday, my mother and i went to Quincy, IL for family time. We watched the debate with my aunt, who has voted Republican since 1952...
- Radical Middle's diary :: ::
Quincy is a small city of 40,000 or so, on the banks of the Mississippi in western Illinois. It is farm country, very historic, very religious, and very Republican. For a good measure, i saw at least ten Keyes signs for every Obama sign, probably more.
My aunt is typical of Quincy. She's 70, a widow, very religious, and still working her job as a hospital administrator. She has four grandchildren that are currently draft age (18-20something), and a few more who soon will be. She also has a great-nephew (my cousin's son) near Fallujah, and prays for him every day. She has the Life magazine book "Heroes of 911" on the coffee table. And she has voted Republican in every presidential election since 1952.
She's now a swing voter.
She watched the debate with real interest, and was happy to get to talk to a well-informed Kerry supporter. Her first concern is security. Kerry's debate points hit home with her, over and over again. She's afraid that Bush has made things worse, not better. Moreover, she thought Bush's performance was awful. As soon as the split-screen started, my mother (an Edwards-type Democrat) pointed out Bush's petulant expressions, and compared them to my grumpy children in the room with us. I'd add details and factoids, but mostly i let Kerry win her, and Bush lose her.
Afterward, we talked a lot about the election, and about the candidates. I told her how hard i worked on the Dean campaign, how much i disliked Kerry at first, and how Kerry slowly won my heart and mind as well as my vote. We talked about Iraq, and how i consider it a distraction from the real war on terror. We talked about Osama, and how Bush's incompetence let him go free (oh, Kerry's comments on Tora Bora were out of the park with her!). We talked about health care, and tax cuts versus deficits. And we talked about the possibility of draft, and how that could affect her grandchildren, and how afraid i am for my ten-year-olds. But mostly, it came down to security, and keeping America safe.
And you know what? I think Kerry sold her. I helped where i could, but i think Kerry did it on his own.
