GREENSBURG, Pa., June 9, 2008
Voter Attitudes On Race Eyed In Key States
Interviews With Pa. Voters Show Racism Could Pose Challenge For Obama
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Play CBS Video Video Forecast For Campaign '08 Roger Simon of Politico speaks with Bob Schieffer about recent developments in the campaigns of presumptive presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain, as Hillary Clinton leaves the race.
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Video Sen. Jim Webb On Obama Analysts consider him a potential running mate for Barack Obama, and now Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) appears on "Face The Nation" in order to discuss his latest book and the 2008 presidential campaign.
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Video Race And Age In Campaign '08 Political analyst Kelli Goff discusses the 2008 presidential race, as race and age will play a historic part in the election between presumptive candidates John McCain and Barack Obama.
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Photo Essay Barack Obama A look at the life and meteoric rise of the president-elect.
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Timeline Obama And Rev. Wright Key dates in the relationship between Barack Obama and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
There's just one problem.
"I don't think our country is ready for a black president," Susick, who is white, said in an interview in the paint store where she works. "A black man is never going to win Pennsylvania."
Susick said her personal objection to Obama is his inexperience, not his color. "It has nothing to do with race," she said.
If Susick is right about Pennsylvania voters, it presents a major hurdle for the presumed Democratic nominee. Democrats have carried Pennsylvania in the last four presidential contests, and Obama would have to offset a loss of its 21 electoral votes by taking Republican-leaning states from John McCain.
Polls suggest that Susick, a grandmother of three, does not represent most registered Democrats here or elsewhere. But there may be enough like-minded voters in Pennsylvania, whose last two presidential elections have been close, to tip it to McCain.
In the April 22 primary, Susick voted for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who carried Pennsylvania by 10 percentage points. Perhaps more troubling for Obama, one in four Clinton's backers told exit pollsters they would vote for McCain if Obama were the nominee; an additional 17 percent said they would not vote at all.
Obama has time and money to court these voters. Polls indicate some can be swayed. But the first-term senator is wading into unknown waters. Political scientists have reams of data about past elections, but there has been no test of how many voters make their ultimate decision based on race.
The answer may determine the presidency. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Florida, with large numbers of white, working-class voters, could prove problematic for a black man even in a year that otherwise looks grim for GOP candidates.
Gauging voter sentiments about race is notoriously difficult. Many voters hide their feelings from pollsters and it is possible that some do not even realize race's influence on their behavior.
In interviews with 40 Pennsylvanians across three counties that Clinton won by big margins, only one person indicated opposition to Obama simply because of his race. But several others said their neighbors might do so. Some offered objections that are familiar, and suspicious, to Obama's aides and supporters.
A few, like Susick, suggested the nation needs more time to prepare for a black president - and perhaps a woman as well.
"I don't think we're ready for either one yet," said Doug Richardson, 62, a contractor from Latrobe. Obama "just hasn't impressed me," he said over midmorning coffee with a friend at Denny's. "His middle name bothers me a lot." That name is Hussein.
Obama may have little to lose with voters such as Richardson, a self-described conservative who likes McCain. More worrisome are longtime Democrats who backed Clinton in April but are threatening to abandon the party now that she is not the nominee.
Rose Iezzi, who lunched recently with two friends at a Greensburg cafe, is one. All three women are middle-aged, work for an accountant and admire Clinton. But only Iezzi took a hard stand against Obama.
"I think he's a snake oil salesman," she said. "He's a little too slick and smooth."
"He just doesn't appeal to me, and not because of race, definitely," she said in an interview in which race had not been mentioned.
Such comments are all too familiar to Richard Akers, who phoned dozens of prospective Pennsylvania voters as an Obama campaign volunteer in April. Democrats often explained their opposition to Obama with "excuses that were not rational or valid, as I saw it," said the retired bank director from Johnstown, another hotbed of Clinton support.
"To me, it was almost a code," Akers said. "'He doesn't wear a flag pin.' It seemed like code for 'He's not one of us.'"
In Pennsylvania, as elsewhere, some people hardly hide their prejudices.
Robert Miller, 72, who lives in a government subsidized room in Bedford, said the Constitution should be amended so it will "not let any colored people run for the White House." He seemed unsure about his voting record in recent elections, but vividly recalled voting for Dwight Eisenhower in 1956.
Dixie Pebley of Johnstown, 71, explained her distaste for Obama, saying, "black doesn't bother me, but Muslim does." When reminded that Obama is a Christian, she conceded the point, but added: "He was born Muslim and raised Muslim, that's enough for me. He just scares me to death."
Obama, the son of a white mother from Kansas and black father from Kenya, was born and raised in a mostly secular family that occasionally attended Christian services. He joined the United Church of Christ as a young adult.
Obama has little to fear from Pebley, who said she no longer votes because she is disillusioned with politicians. But even some likely voters who are largely sympathetic to him are troubled by his ties, now broken, to a former pastor who cursed the United States and accused the government of possible conspiracies against blacks.
Kate Tanning, a Pittsburgh antiques dealer who was lunching with friends in Bedford, rejected Obama's claim that he did not know of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's most bombastic statements even though Obama attended Wright's Chicago church for 20 years.
"That's the one thing about him I can't believe," she said.
Obama generally avoids direct racial appeals, and he is likely to pursue such voters with familiar arguments: His opposition to the Iraq war and appeals for national unity and bipartisanship, for example. He may be making progress. National polls show him leading McCain among female voters and running even among Catholics, two groups that generally backed Clinton in the Democratic primaries.
But national polls are less important than those in the roughly 15 highly competitive states in which both parties will focus their efforts. These are all big states full of white, working-class voters who were Clinton's base, and include Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Obama will count on voters such as Iezzi's lunchmates, Susan Szymanski and Roxane Uhrin. Both said they strongly preferred Clinton, but will vote for Obama this fall in hopes of changing policies on the economy and Iraq.
"I don't want a third term of George Bush," Szymanski said.
James Antoniono, a Greensburg lawyer and veteran Democratic activist who worked for Clinton, said many Clinton backers will support Obama this fall, including some who told exit pollsters they would not.
"It's one thing to come out of the voting both and say that," Antoniono said. "It's another thing when you're faced with a choice in the general election."
Still, he said, Obama and his aides face tough battles. "There's no way they win Ohio, in my mind," he said in his law office, which faces Westmoreland County's elegant old courthouse. "I think Pennsylvania is winnable," he said. But he predicted Obama will "lose Westmoreland big," even though registered Democrats far outnumber Republicans in the county, which is east of Pittsburgh.
At least one Obama fan thinks the impact of racial prejudice may be limited.
Rick Weimer, a retired Coca-Cola truck driver who was eating a Chinese dish at a mall food court in Johnstown, said analysts are "pretty accurate" in describing Pennsylvania as Philadelphia in the east, Pittsburgh in the west "and Alabama in between." Obama's race "will hurt him" in many places, said Weimer, who follows the campaign intensely on cable TV. "But when push comes to shove, people around here want change."
That might include some white Democrats who publicly criticize Obama just to fit in with their neighbors, he said. "Once they go into the voting booth," he said, "who knows?"
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The secrets of tennis legend 
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See all 1083 CommentsTHE WHITE HOUSE (Dictatorial powers)
THE CONGRESS ( Rubber stamp)
THE SENATE (Rubber stamp)
THE SUPREME COURT (Conservative pandering)
THE MEDIA EMPIRES (Journalists as stenographers)
THE MILITARY (Pre-emptive invasions)
THE UNITED NATIONS(abrogating every treaty with veto)
And look at the mess that is THE WORLD. Look MA! Look at what they did!!!!!
OH! WHAT A MESS!!!. Where was John McCain when all of this was coming down?. Republicans belong in the TRASH CAN OF HISTORY for the good of the world AND AMERICA.
Posted by omaar-101 at 09:59 AM : Jun 10, 2008
Yeah, remember Bill Clinton who cleaned up one republican mess and balanced a budget, and who lead us through eight years of peace and prosperity...
The very Bill Clinton that Obama has spent almost a year trying to tear down....
Bill Clinton was a very smart man, too bad Obama in his ignorance discredited everything that Bill Clinton did, and now can''t take it back!
IS NOT NATIONAL OR INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE !!
THE ONLY PRESIDENT TO HAVE BOTH NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE WAS.....
GEORGE W. BUSH SR: HE WAS THE CIA DIRECTOR (INTERNATIONAL) AND 2 TERM REPUBLICAN VICE PRESIDENT (NATIONAL) EXPERIENCE AND HIS A$$ LASTED ONLY ONE TERM AND LEFT WITH A LOW APPROVAL RATING. AMERICAN IMAGE WISE, HE WAS CONSIDERED A WIMP, IN MOST AMERICANS EYES !!
JIMMY CARTER: GOVERNOR, STATE-REGIONAL EXPERIENCE. HE HAD NO NATIONAL OR INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE. YET HE BROKERED THE ISRAEL & EGYPT, MIDDLE EAST PEACE AGREEMENTS & THE USA & RUSSIAN STRATEGIC ARMS AGREEMENT, BOTH AGREEMENTS STILL STAND, STILL STAND. LET BUSH MATCH THESE ACCOMPLISHMENTS.
RON-ALD WIL-SON REA-GAN: MR. (666) HIMSELF, WAS A GOVERNOR AN THATS STATE-REGIONAL EXPERIENCE, NOT NATIONAL OR INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE.
BILL CLINTON: BEING A GOVERNOR IS STATE-REGIONAL EXPERIENCE. HE HAD NO NATIONAL OR INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE.
GEORGE W. BUSH JR: HE WAS A GOVERNOR (TEXAS) THATS STATE-REGIONAL EXPERIENCE. HE HAD NO NATIONAL-INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE AND IT SHOWS, TOO. BUSH WILL BE LEAVING WITH THE LOWEST APPROVAL RATING IN AMERICAN HISTORY, LOWER THAN HIS FATHER, GEORGE H. BUSH SR.
IS NOT NATIONAL OR INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE !!
THE ONLY PRESIDENT TO HAVE BOTH NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE WAS.....
GEORGE W. BUSH SR: HE WAS THE CIA DIRECTOR (INTERNATIONA) AND 2 TERM REPUBLICAN VICE PRESIDENT (NATIONAL) EXPERIENCE AND HSI A$$ LASTED ONLY ONE TERM AND LEFT WITH A LOW APPROVAL RATING. AMERICAN IMAGE WISE, HE WAS CONSIDERED A WIMP, IN MOST AMERICANS EYES !!
JIMMY CARTER: GOVERNOR, STATE-REGIONAL EXPERIENCE. HE HAD NO NATIONAL OR INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE.
RON-ALD WIL-SON REA-GAN: MR. (666) HIMSELF, WAS A GOVERNOR AN THATS STATE-REGIONAL EXPERIENCE, NOT NATIONAL OR INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE.
BILL CLINTON: BEING A GOVERNOR IS STATE-REGIONAL EXPERIENCE. HE HAD NO NATIONAL OR INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE.
GEORGE W. BUSH JR: HE WAS A GOVERNOR (TEXAS) THATS STATE-REGIONAL EXPERIENCE. HE HAD NO NATIONAL-INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE AND IT SHOWS, TOO. BUSH WILL BE LEAVING WITH THE LOWEST APPROVAL RATING IN AMERICAN HISTORY, LOWER THAN HIS FATHER, GEORGE H. BUSH SR.
Vote for 71-72 Year Old Semi-Senile John McCain
1. Jimmy Carter: The Man that Brokered Peace Between Israel & Eygpt.
Note: An Agreement that has Lasted and without Change.
2. Jimmy Carter: The Man that Brokered the Strategic Nuclear Arms Agreement, Between America & Russia.
Note: Not Bad for a Man, who was a State-Regional Governor (Georgia).
Unlike the State-Regional Governor from (Texas) that became President for 2 Terms George W. Bush Jr.
If I were Obama, I would say, Compare Me to Jimmy Carter, because Jimmy Carter on his Worse Day...
PALES IN COMPARISON TO GEORGE W. BUSH JR. AND HIS NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL FAILURES & DAMAGES, WHICH WILL BE FELT FOREVER. 1 MILLION IRAQI CITIZENS & OVER 4,080 USA SOLDIERS KILLED. OVER 4,055 ALLIES KILLED. THOUSANDS OF US SOLDIERS DIS-MEMBERED SOLDIERS. FIVE ATTEMPTED USA SOLDIERS, ATTEMPTED SUICIDES, PER DAY. HUNDREDS OF USA SOLDIERS, SELF INFLICTED INJURIES, TO NOT RETURN FOR ANOTHER TOUR OF IRAQ.
NO ALLIED SUPPORT FROM ANY MAJOR EUROPEAN COUNTRY, THE LOWEST RATING OF ANY OUTGOING PRESIDENT...PERIOD, THAT WOULD INCLUDE HIS FATHER GEORGE BUSH SR, OVER THE TOP, HIGH GAS PRICES, DEVALUED DOLLAR, HIGHEST HOME FORECLOSURE RATES IN HISTORY.
JIMMY CARTER IS PURE PLATINUM, IN COMAPARISON TO BUSH JR.
99% believe tired makes up everything she posts 100% of the time.
Oh, they may say they don''''t endorse Obama because of his speech at AIPAC, but I''''m sure it''''s actually because they got tired of tracymorgan posting the exact same thing over and over.
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Posted by nanc12 at 10:31 PM : Jun 09, 2008
More likely they heard Obama''s stupid speech and said the wall between Israel and Palestine SHOULD ABSOLUTELY STAY UP, and then in the next breath said THE WALL BETWEEN ISRAEL AND PALESTINE WILL HAVE TO BE NEGOTIATED BETWEEN THEM...that they realized he doesn''t have a freaking clue what the hell he''s talking about!
75% say that they do not consider having negotiations with Iran to be (appeasement.)
81% believe the country is going in the wrong direction.
(CNN)
89% of the public understands Obama is not a Muslim.
Posted by taotxzen at 10:33 PM : Jun 09, 2008
Yeah, 75% of the people demonstrated in five of the last primaries that they are tired of this spit and Obama needs to take his trash and move on!
75% of Americans voting for Obama thinks this idiot can just TALK the world into peace from a position of weaknees! Whatta dufus!
81% of the nation believes we''re going in the wrong direction but 18,000,000 of us don''t think Obama has a freaking clue what to do about it! That''s why we didn''t vote for him!
89% of the people do not believe Obama is a Muslim, but they do know that he has a serious identity crisis, and doesn''t even know who the hell he is himself!
And the fact that the media and the Obama campaign is already trying to find excuses for Obama''s loss and try to blame it on something else besides lack of voter confidence is ludicrous!
Here is something the Koolaid drunks need to come to grips with:
75% of Americans say that they have had their fill of the Rev. Wright controversy and want to move on.
75% say that they do not consider having negotiations with Iran to be (appeasement.)
81% believe the country is going in the wrong direction.
(CNN)
89% of the public understands Obama is not a Muslim.
(Newsweek)
That only leaves a small minority that disagrees. You are in the minority on the issues and you can spew hate and racist remarks ''til the cows come home but it won''t change the facts.
Also, how does it feel to be a minority?!
Oh, they may say they don''t endorse Obama because of his speech at AIPAC, but I''m sure it''s actually because they got tired of tracymorgan posting the exact same thing over and over.
Racism, Hillary Clinton, republican smear, how many other the hell excuses are they going to dream up? Maybe they will be able to blame the weather for a bad voter turnout, or how about voting machines, that''s a good one, got any chads?
Even worse for me - my son''s little puppy knows how to pound it. I have a terrorist right under my roof!!
Posted by Obama8years at 05:36 PM : Jun 08, 2008
Posted by Jesterbellee at 05:27 PM : Jun 08, 2008
Posted by slayrre007 at 04:30 PM : Jun 08, 2008
Posted by Bagdadshere1 at 03:24 PM : Jun 08, 2008
Now you know CBS is right wing propaganda.I work for them. McCain 08 Posted by CBS_Katie at 03:04 PM : Jun 08, 2008
Posted by MCVET_ at 02:58 PM : Jun 08, 2008
Posted by BlackShaft at 02:17 PM : Jun 08, 2008
Posted by barefootboy9 at 06:50 PM : Jun 08, 2008
HAD A NIC STOLEN?THIS IS PROBABLY THE S.O.B.THAT DID IT.THESE ARE JUST SOME OF THE NAMES IT POSTS UNDER.ALSO INCLUDED ARE Who_Am_I/LARRYSINCLAIR/OBAMASGRANNY/eatm
ochikn
In addition to McVets nic,I have also seen it using j.whitmans.
I am sure there are other names it is using,one of them could be yours
Frankly who cares about a fist bump! I knew last August I wasn''t going to vote for him. Nothing has changed since then.
FOXNews%u2019 E.D. Hill On Obama%u2019s Fist Bump: %u201CA Terrorist Fist Jab?%u201D
By: Logan Murphy on Saturday, June 7th, 2008 at 10:20 AM - PDT
During the June 6 edition of Fox News%u2019 America%u2019s Pulse, host E.D. Hill teased an upcoming discussion by saying, %u201CA fist bump? A pound? A terrorist fist jab? The gesture everyone seems to interpret differently.%u201D In the ensuing discussion with Janine Driver %u2014 whom Hill introduced as %u201Ca body language expert%u201D %u2014 Hill referred to the %u201CMichelle and Barack Obama fist bump or fist pound,%u201D adding that %u201Cpeople call it all sorts of things.%u201D Hill went on to ask Driver: %u201CLet%u2019s start with the Barack and Michelle Obama, because that%u2019s what most people are writing about %u2014 the fist thump. Is that sort of a signal that young people get?%u201D At no point during the discussion did Hill explain her earlier reference to %u201Ca terrorist fist jab.%u201D Read on%u2026
The personalities and wholly partisan programming at FOXNews has been well documented. They%u2019ve become a parody of themselves and this little nugget from Edith Ann Tarbox was just one in a series of belly-laughers Fox is known for. This campaign season is going to make 2004 look like Romper Room and you can be sure this won%u2019t be the last we%u2019ll see of this kind of garbage. Vote Obama in November.
Posted by jesterbelle at 07:32 PM : Jun 09, 2008 "
And there was me thinking that it was only me that couldn''''t give a *** about thousands of americans being killed and maimed - looks like americans couldn''''t give a *** either
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Posted by RobRoyh390 at 07:36 PM : Jun 09, 2008
You missed the point.None of them are going to make any difference.They are all sellouts.
Truth is truth, smear is smear.
Obama is a Muslim
Obama is a racist
Obama is a hate monger
The intent of all these false accusations is to raise doubt about the candidate. See the Karl Rove playbook - when you have no record to run on start making baseless accusations of your opponent - see also character assassination. If you have doubts about someone you are more likely to support the familiar, "more of the same" candidate.
Just keep in mind, if you want to keep getting what you are getting (the economy, Iraq, gas prices) keep doing what you are doing.
Oh, I fully expect between now and November there will be many many articles written making excuses for who and what Barak Obama is. Strange isn''t it, if the young man had not surrounded himself with all these numb nuts, nobody would be having to make excuses for him.
By: Howie Klein @ 9:00 AM - PDT
Lately John and I have been gnashing our collective teeth every time we see one of the Republican shills on TV repeating, mantra-like, the #1 GOP Big Lie of the campaign: %u201CBarack Obama is the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate.%u201D
If only! Actually there are 39 Democrats with more liberal voting records, although Obama does at least beat perennial Bush rubber stamps Holy Joe Lieberman (CT), Ben Nelson (NE) and Mary Landrieu (LA). His voting record%u2013 however you slice it, however you dice it%u2013 points to a solidly mainstream centrist%u2013 and, to be honest, considerably less liberal than Hillary.
So how do CNN, CBS, ABC and NBC all allow the paid GOP shills to get away with their Big Lie? Good question. There%u2019s one cooked up National Journal %u201Cstudy%u201D that these clowns keep referring to%u2013 yes the same cloddish National Journal that criticized its own ranking of John Kerry as %u201Cthe most liberal senator%u201D in 2004.
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