Yesterday, October 28, 2008, the world of Northwest Arkansas politics turned completely upside down.
The local Bentonville, AR paper, the Benton County Daily Record, endorsed Barack Obama for President of the United States!
http://www.nwanews.com/...
Talk about Shock and Awe! Benton Co, AR with a population of just over 200,000 in a 2007 estimate has not voted for a Democrat since 1992,going 2-1 Republican each time. The county is also home to Wal-Mart world headquarters with a sizable number of households dependent on Wal-Mart or its vendors for their income. Wal-Mart has even been 'suggesting' that their associates vote Republican. So, the paper is basically thumbing its nose at Wal-Mart.
Here is an excerpt from the endorsement:
The United States is a great nation facing a great crisis.
This is no depression, but the economy is far from stable. The $ 700-billion bailout of the mortgage industry exposed intolerable greed and horrible decisions on Wall Street. The unemployment rate is at 6. 1 percent and rising - the highest it has been since 2003. The stock market lately has taken us on a wild roller-coaster ride.
We are absorbed in two wars that are steadily feeding our skyrocketing national debt; meanwhile, our actions abroad have steadily eroded the respect that others had for America on Sept. 11, 2001, when much of the world stood with us.
These are just some of the issues the next president will have to confront.
If ever there were a time for change, this is it. Both major party candidates in this race, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, recognize that.
The question is, which candidate is most likely to follow through and bring fresh ideas to the White House, understanding that the same old same old doesn't cut it anymore ?
Our answer: Barack Obama.
I cannot stress enough how earthshaking this endorsement is for Northwest Arkansas.
In a county where for sixteen years the Democratic Party has largely been a social club rather than a political force, Democrats had to run as Republicans in order to get enough votes to compete for state or local positions.
The 2008 Presidential campaign has changed all that. The Benton Co Dems are reenergized and focused as never before. New blood from out-of-state retirees along with closet Democrats coming home to the Party has swelled the volunteer ranks.
At the beginning of the election season, the State Democratic Party had all but written off Benton Co. The State Party Chair, Senator David Pryor addressed a meeting of the Democratic Women's Club in a packed hotel ballroom on Monday.
Here's the article on the meeting:
http://www.nwanews.com/...
BENTONVILLE - Arkansas is a "sleeper state"in the presidential election that will likely fall in the Barack Obama column on Election Day, said David Pryor, state Democratic Party chairman.
In his remarks he pointed out that Benton County Democratic voters represented the second largest number of voters outside of Pulaski Co, the most populous county in Arkansas.
The possibility that Benton County, Arkansas, will go blue along with the rest of the state is not remote any longer, but actually doable with the expected turn-out of new voters flocking to the Democratic ticket all across the State. Benton County Democrats registered approximately 7,500 new voters during the two months prior to the Oct 6 deadline. This figure represents roughly one-third of the total Democratic votes cast in the 2004 Presidential race in Benton County. Combine this with young voters and 'common-sense' Republicans totally turned off by Palin and McCain's ultra-negative campaign, the unthinkable prospect of actually pulling it off may be thinkable.
Early conjecture that the Dems might not win Benton County but at least put enough votes in play to swing the State-wide total may now give way to the thought of pulling off a razor thin victory. Either way, the Benton County Democratic vote total will have a State-wide impact.
Keep your fingers crossed!
I realize that Arkansas only has 6 EVs and will not sway the election one way or another. It would be a symbolic victory that would show the depth of Obama's support throughout this country.