Who's More Red, White And Blue-Collar?

Washington Post: With A Boilermaker Here And A Bowling Ball There, Obama And Clinton Try To Win Over Middle America

(CBS)  This story was written by Eli Saslow.

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If he weren't so busy waiting tables at O'Charley's or scanning Wal-Mart for discount meat to feed his four kids, Scott Winschief thinks he might make a pretty good candidate for president of the United States. For the past six months, he has watched on television in his double-wide mobile home as Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama have traveled around the country and imitated his lifestyle. Badly.

They posed for photos in the same kind of factory where Winschief, 44, pinched a nerve in his back hauling 1,800-pound coils of wire in 140-degree heat. They visited bars and drained pints of the domestic beer that fills Winschief's fridge. They toured barns occupied by animals like the ones he fed at 4 a.m. every day so he could pay for a few years of college. They reminisced about shooting guns like the ones displayed inside almost every house in his rural neighborhood.

The presidential race has turned into a riveting competition for ordinariness, as both campaigns have concluded that whoever does a better job of winning over voters like Winschief -- an average blue-collar man in an average American town of 60,000 -- is more likely to triumph in Tuesday's primaries in Indiana and North Carolina.

Identifying with the common man has been a requisite in presidential elections for almost two centuries. But the stakes are especially high in a race largely defined by an economic crisis, and campaign experts say the candidates have gone especially far in their appeals.

In the past six weeks, Clinton hammered down a shot of Crown Royal whiskey -- not necessarily the first choice of the workingman -- and chased it with a beer. Obama visited a Pennsylvania sports bar and sampled a Yuengling after making sure it wasn't "some designer beer." Clinton told stories about learning to shoot behind the cottage her grandfather built. Obama went bowling.

Whether these voyeurs of blue-collar existence yield results depends on how people like Winschief perceive them. Are these genuine attempts at connection or overly calculated tactics to win voters? Are they telling moments that reveal a candidate's humanity or patronizing charades that reveal a candidate's guile?

Last Tuesday night, Winschief cradled his custom-made bowling ball at Arrowhead Bowl in downtown Lafayette. It was league night, a staple of his schedule for the past decade, and he shuffled a deck of Hooters playing cards on the table in front of him and gulped Miller Lite from a plastic cup. One of Winschief's teammates mentioned Obama's recent misadventures at a bowling alley, where he rolled a succession of gutter balls (with the help of a couple of young children who rolled a couple of frames) en route to a score of 37. The friend wondered whether there was an adult in Lafayette who couldn't beat Obama's abysmal total.

Winschief, an undecided Democrat, pondered this for a second as he glanced up at his own score -- 164 with three of 10 frames left to bowl.

"I love him for trying, but that's awful," he said. "A 37? It kind of makes you wonder why he's even bowling in the first place."

Presidential candidates have strived relentlessly downward in social class ever since the 1840s, when William Henry Harrison created what historians now call the "common-man myth." While most of his peers campaigned from their estates, Harrison traveled the country and spoke under a banner depicting a log cabin and a bottle of hard cider. He won the presidency by a landslide, and his campaign model became the new standard.

With few exemptions since, American voters have picked presidents who mimic the public's most ordinary habits -- men who regularly mention drinking, or NASCAR, or old-fashioned farm work. Ronald Reagan liked to be photographed chopping wood. George H.W. Bush spoke longingly about pork rinds. Bill Clinton stopped at McDonald's while on the campaign trial, even when it required a side trip. And George W. Bush is a champion brush-clearer.

Disruption to this role-playing occurs only when a politician makes a blunder so glaring that it reveals him to be a jester in costume. Gerald Ford bit into a tamale without husking it while campaigning on the Mexican border in 1976, and he extolled its deliciousness before realizing he had consumed the wrapper. John F. Kerry ordered a cheesesteak at Pat's in Philadelphia and asked for Swiss cheese, even though Pat's had specialized in subs with Cheez Whiz for 70 years.

In 1994, George W. Bush arranged for several media outlets to follow him on the first day of dove-hunting season. He fired his gun, killed a bird and looked like a real woodsman until officials identified his kill as a Texas songbird, a protected species easily distinguished from doves by experienced hunters. Bush paid a $130 fine.

"If you can look like the common man and make your opponent appear out of touch, you've pretty much won the election," said Richard Shenkman, a George Mason professor who has written several books about presidential campaigning. "The American people, given the choice between reality and the myth, almost always pick the myth. . . . We tell ourselves their average day is just like ours."

[pepperwood2]

I like others thought Hillary had what it takes. She didn''t let us down. She took the low road of bitterly attacking & bashing Obama & Rev Wright and close to a $500,000,000 dollars of contributions and still counting.

Bill, Chelsae, Rendell & the Campaign Committee really won. They get paid up front.

After all she is still there for us. That is, for all the Fund Raisers. 35 years experience has PAID off for the Clintons. ITS ALL ABOUT ME. Wheeeeeee this is FUND time. I''m just warming up.

"Don''t forget the Superdelegates are on my side and their not happy that Obama doesn''t know his place." Soooooo Sad what the Clintons & the Old Guard Demos have done to the Democratic Party & its not over yet.

[truthyness]

Actually it doesn''t matter who''s more blue collar because Hillary will get the Nomination because Obama is a threat.

[battleroaron]

like any politician could ever be be called "blue collar". they don''t have a clue what it is like to live life like the rest of America.when was the last time hillary or barack got a shut-off notice in the mail from their electric company?or when was the last time they had to count change for the babies milk?

[gkc99]

the key question:

Who will get the knucklehead vote?

Looks like Hilly may have that sewn up!

[girlmiami]

I love Hillary.

[cfin5]

Has anybody checked out O''blahma''s rhetoric on the gas tax suspension? Next time you go to the filling station, look at the pump and do a little math per tankful how much you would save a week for the whole summer. It''s a lot more than what he''s saying,......maybe his cleric''s done more damage than we think.

Posted by metroduck75: ... Obama,s Supporters..have been out there insulting hardworking middle class....you know, Obama is NO healer of the nation, he is the ultimate Divider.===========

Obama''s supporters couldn''t have been insulting what they couldn''t find left in this country! All those jobs left the country on Gorge''s watch. And Obama isn''t about HEALING this nation at all. The divide between the rube right and lunatic left is too wide. Maybe we can do Jeremiah''s "wutu" dance to exorcise them. If that doesn''t work, we can try amputation. Given intelligent support, Obama can bring together the rational moderates from both parties. That''s the REAL class that makes this country work. Sorry you don''t consider yourself a part of the solution.

"If you can look like the common man and make your opponent appear out of touch, you''ve pretty much won the election," said Richard Shenkman, a George Mason professor who has written several books about presidential campaigning. "The American people, given the choice between reality and the myth, almost always pick the myth. . . . We tell ourselves their average day is just like ours." ---
So why would any millionaire with a college degree, a law degree even, ever want to be "ordinary joe" anymore? That defeats the whole purpose in getting the degree. And the millions! At least one thing seemed true enough: even a spastic gutterball bowler can do "hoops" with the Wright mentor.

[magoo2u1]

Obama got my vote when he dared to acknowlede out loud that the tax holiday had no clothes. 30 bucks spread out over the summer does me no good when everything I buy is screaming skyward in price. Tell me what you can do for next year etc. to improve our long term position. Short term feel good "look at me I did something" useless gestures don''t impress me.
I''ve seen 8 years of criminal "look at the shiny object in my right hand" while the left lands a roundhouse sucker punch to my pocket and my future.

[craigh9]

"Obama talks about a $1000 credit..think he could get that passed and who would pay for it?

Posted by ninasevyn at 11:14 AM : May 06, 2008"

In fact this is easily done - exactly the same process that has $600 per adult and $300 per child coming to you shortly. When dealing with government money the congress can move rapidly - attempting to go after big oil profits to support and tax break will be the proverbial slow boat to China.