Howey Political Reports has touched upon a poignant point with regards to President-Elect Barack Obama's slim win of Spencer County:
It was an obscure fact buried in battleground Indiana; that Spencer County - Abraham Lincoln’s boyhood home - came in blue for Barack Obama.
If you had told before the election that two rural Southern Indiana counties had gone to Obama, my answer would have been Perry and Scott. In the year 2000, these two counties had gone for Al Gore, and have a long history of supporting Democrats. However, the people of Spencer County perhaps grabbed on to the symbolism of an Obama victory there.
Spencer County is an attractive place lining the banks of the Ohio River. There are 3 main attractions in the county, which are pleasing in that they seem completely unrelated to one another. First is, of course, Abraham Lincoln's Boyhood Home National Memorial. It is a mostly wooded place with a fantastic cut limestone Memorial. The second attraction is Holiday World Amusement Park in a town called Santa Claus. Third, and my personal favorite, is stunning St. Meinrad Archabbey:
I have to wonder how many monks voted for Barack Obama.
All this fun aside, I believe that it is important to connect the symbolism of a narrow Obama win in this county back with Abraham Lincoln, another man who came from humble means who went to rise through the ranks of the Illinois Legislature, and then went on to change the course of the country forever. Kudos to the Howey Political Report for the inspiration.