The battle for white men

[DonViejo]

BURLINGTON, Iowa — They arrived here in droves in the pouring rain to hear Vice President Joe Biden, an ocean of white guys. There were men in overalls and some in suits, hardcore Democrats and wavering Republicans, undecideds and first-time voters, the unemployed and the angry.

After decades of taking a back seat to the growing voting demographics of women and Latinos, middle-class white men are finding themselves front and center again. They are being intensely targeted and wooed by the left and right, as Barack Obama and Mitt Romney fight to hold together their fragile coalitions and lay claim to the ever-shrinking slice of uncertain voters.

“White men are significant and they are in play,” says Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg, who for 30 years has closely tracked the political migration patterns of white working-class men.

“They swung to Obama in 2008 and they swung back Republican in 2010. Now there is evidence that they might be swinging back because they have doubts about Mitt Romney.”


Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81675.html#ixzz27b7uQorA

[JRLeft]

1. Come on Reagan Democrats, it is time for you to come back home.

[UCmeNdc]

2. How can anyone even consider voting for a Mitt Romney Mess?

Mitt Romney is a mess. Why vote for him?

[MitchS]

3. republicans don't see his bad side

You wouldn't either if you only watched fox and his speeches on TV. I didn't know he was as bad as he is until I found DU.

[skeewee08]

4. Welcome to DU MitchS

[SmittynMo]

9. They see his bad side.

They elect to ignore it. They have no one else. Look at the original competition.

[lumberjack_jeff]

5. They are an important demographic

primarily because their wives tend to vote as they do.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

6. White men is all Romney has left

[ellisonz]

7. Romney cannot afford any slippage among white men. n/t

[SmittynMo]

8. Rmoney will lose, big time

As a white man, I will NEVER vote for Rmoney. His total ignorance for the middle class has pissed me off to no end. The GOP is so far out of touch with reality, I don't see how they can possibly win in November. I have said before. Obama will win by a landslide, and I still believe it. You will see Rmoney lose in states the GOP has never lost in before. And his 47% comment was a big minus for him. Especially since only about 4% do not pay taxes. Therefore he insulted 43% of tax paying Americans. How out of touch is that? And to top everything off, Rmoney has had daily flubs, for the past 4 months. He makes Bush look like a Rhodes scholar, and everyone knows how stupid Bush was. With a record like that, how can he possibly win?

As for 2010. I can't really say the white vote failed the democrats and flip flopped. It appears no one showed up to vote, which gave the GOP the advantage. People don't understand how important it is to voter EVERY 2 years. Those are the big ones.

[CBHagman]

10. "After decades of taking a back seat"?!

That was a silly sentence for Lois Romano to write. Identification of and wooing of disparate voting blocs does not amount to marginalizing white male middle-class voters.