Reply #35: White House Watch: An Ohio city looks to calmer times

[dzika]

January 1, 2005


White House Watch: An Ohio city looks to calmer times
By ANN McFEATTERS, Block News Alliance


SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — My old hometown has been having interesting times lately. The Chinese were right. That's a curse.

Some years ago, Newsweek magazine decided to celebrate its 50th anniversary by devoting an entire issue to a city that the editors felt most represented the changes in the United States during those five decades. They chose Springfield, with about 88,000 people, to typify the struggle from an agricultural to an industrial-retail economy, submerged racial tensions and a citizenry full of optimism, independent spirit and entrepreneurial ambition. That issue of the magazine did not sell spectacularly well, but it made its mark — as Springfield goes, so goes the nation.

At least, that's what proud Springfielders have thought ever since.

This last election, White House political guru Karl Rove decided to put unprecedented grass-roots efforts into places such as Clark County, Ohio, for which Springfield is the county seat. That made the Democrats sit up and get to work. And soon President Bush and Sen. John Kerry began making what seemed to the folks of Clark County to be almost daily visits.

The New York Times quickly figured out that Springfield was the place to watch, and that brought the city to the attention of All of Europe, which did not want Bush re-elected because of opposition to the war in Iraq. A liberal British newspaper, The Guardian of London, suggested that its readers write to Springfield voters to suggest politely that they vote for Kerry. Many readers did, via e-mail and regular mail.

-snip-

Some Kerry supporters were horrified, saying The Guardian's tactic was helping Bush with a backlash effect. And when all the recounting was done, Clark County went narrowly for Bush; Ohio went narrowly for Bush; the nation went narrowly for Bush. You must draw your own conclusion.

Link:
http://www.naplesnews.com/npdn/pe_columnists/article/0,2071,NPDN_14960_3437880,00.html