Interesting numbers. What is interesting to me is that the numbers suggest a generational shift. Gen Xers and leading edge Millennials are certainly a core constituency of the Obama campaign, and (generally speaking) are much more comfortable using the internet.

Extrapolating this further, I wonder if some of the animosity and hostility exhibited by both Obama and Clinton supporters has less to do with race and gender and much more to do with generational animosity.

I believe that there is a big generational shift underway in politics (in the broader culture it has been going on for at least 10-15 years). It would be interesting to read an article that more fully explored the generational differences between Obama and Clinton as well as those of their respective supporters. After all Obama would be the first Gen X president.

A few observations:

I live only a few miles from Messiah College (although I was unable to attend the forum). One of the ironies of the recent "uproar" over Sen. Obama's comments is that people in my area HAVE turned toward religion, guns, and (in some cases) fear of the Other. This statement is so true that the only "shocking" thing about it is that someone actually articulated what many of my neighbors are feeling. So yes, religion is very important to my neighbors, because it is the only thing that hasn't let them down. Economic policies of the past 30 years have completely ignored this region. It is difficult to take out frustration on an economic policy or a multi-national corporation, so (unfortunately) some of my neighbors transfer there frustrations to what they see as an attack on their culture by outsiders. And yes, many of my neighbors feel that ALL they have left is religion and their guns. I am neither defending or attacking these folks; this is just the way it happens to be.

Manufacturing jobs are gone. Small towns like mine (Mechanicsburg) are rotting from the inside out while big box stores and strip malls are proliferating miles from town near the highways. Locally owned stores are disappearing. Even Hershey has begun shipping its jobs away. We ARE pissed off, we are economically insecure, and have been for years. Of course my neighbors have turned inward.

What really makes me want to smash things is how the MSM has been playing this, as if this was a real controversy. Uh, ironic that cultural elites and millionaire "news" people (as well as Sens. McCain and Clinton) huff and puff and raise their eyebrow, hyping this as if there were another side to the story, as if people in small town PA are happy-go-lucky and optimistic after watching their jobs and economic security slowly erode for decades. Where are these people? Manhattan? L.A.? They certainly are not here.

Let me put it this way: The most popular candidate in this area is Ron Paul. If that's not bitter, I don't know what is.