At least in part. But what *I* keep hearing from "progressive" Obama supporters (apparently NOT in flyover states) is that everyone in OTHER states who didn't vote for Obama couldn't possibly have chosen to vote for Hillary Clinton because she paid more attention to them and their specific problems and they thought she might be a better candidate for them. It's because they're all stupid racists.

Some of them probably are. Some of them, however, would like to believe that some politician out there actually LISTENS to them.

Look, it's a little bit like choosing a doctor. I went through several different doctors before I found one who would actually LISTEN to me. She might not have been the best doctor I saw, but she listened to the symptoms I was having, and never did anything without explaining to me (like I was an adult! Hey!) what she was doing and why she was doing it. And I trusted her because of that.

Some people, like myself, immediately mistrust those who say "I know what's best for you" without actually LISTENING to the problem. From what I could see, in my little corner of the rust belt, Hillary Clinton was doing a better job of that than Barack Obama, and THAT was why she got the votes. Not because everyone in the rust belt is a racist.

I like Obama. I voted for Obama. 3 times (once in the Illinois Senate primary, once for Illinois senator, and then in the presidential primary when I moved back to Ohio). But it truly puts my back up when I have to listen to his supporters scream racism when they obviously have so much contempt for the people they purport (as progressives) to be so sympathetic towards.

And Obama's tire gauge mini-crusade was a mortifying misfire with those same voters -- a shiny little gadget specializing in the literally lightweight issue of air versus the greasy, brawny push for massive, phallic drilling into the seabed of mother earth. Symbols matter!

Umm... Camille... you imply that Obama's campaign produced tire gauges, when in fact it was McCain's campaign who produced them to mock Obama's suggestion that we make sure our tires are properly inflated. And nearly every news outlet *I* saw (including my local Fox affiliate) said hey, it DOES conserve gas to keep your tires inflated.

I guess I don't get what you're implying, besides obvious tired cliches about the phallicity of oil-drilling rigs.

Thanks for the info--all of which, I am sure, is verifiable (yes or no) if anyone wants to go dig it up (hey, Shapiro, maybe you'd like to?) Even if all the rest of it is nonsense (and I'm not saying it is, NC_girl, just hedging my bets) I wondered about the house myself--how Edwards, as the "populist progressive", could justify building that kind of house for himself and his family.

I too was never particularly enamored of Edwards, and I could never say why, except that something just didn't ring true--plus I was an habitue of DailyKOS at the time, and the fervent hero-worship he attracted there turned me off.

@NC_girl: While I thoroughly enjoyed reading your letter, I think you missed the point: it doesn't matter what kind of house John Edwards chooses to buy, or how much he donates to charity (although generosity is certainly an admirable quantity). What matters, at the end of the day, is what comes out of the man's mouth, and what those words inspire people to do. I'm not the first one on this forum to point out that many great leaders have been complete pricks personally. But when their accomplishments benefit humanity, those are remembered long after their personal excesses and foibles are forgotten.

Sooo... you're not a fan of lead by example, eh? You believe in "do as I say, not as I do?" You believe that it's more important (for instance) that GWB SAID "We do not torture" than to look at the evidence that we DO?

I'd much rather have a leader who DIDN'T style himself as a Leftist Populist and actually WORKED for the poor without running his mouth off about it. OTOH, maybe all of Edwards' rhetoric up to this point HAS inspired someone to actually go and do something--since obviously he did not himself actually do anything.

Once the South REALLY runs out of water, the Rust Belt will get its revenge! You all are going to have to move back here, because we ain't exporting...

(I'm only half kidding...)

Palin's kids are named Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper, and Trig. I know Shelties (specifically Shelties, for some reason) named Bristol, Willow and Piper. For some reason, white people like to give their kids dog names.

If he wins, it'll be a squeaker. We're doing early voting now, which will hopefully cut down on lines at the polls. However it goes, I don't think Ohio will be stolen this year.

And I have an iPod too (that I never use anymore since I got the Zune). Among other things, it has FM radio--a big help when I work out and want to watch TV (you have to tune your radio to a frequency in the club).

And had a look at the area. I DID find the ATM she says she used, and it's right on the street. I don't know what time she says this happened, but I would think that there would have been more people around--so maybe witnesses could be found?

As of about 4:00 Eastern time.