From MSNBC: Ohio Dems divided by race and age

[AngryOldDem]

I originally planned to post this as a response in another thread, but thought it deserved special attention of its own.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/03/04/730736.aspx

<<First, race: Among white voters, Clinton is winning women by a large margin -- 66% to Obama's 34%. She is also winning among white men, with 55% to Obama's 44%. Remember, Obama has won white men in past contests. Among black voters in Ohio, Obama is winning both men and women by a large margin, roughly 9-in-10. But black voters only make up 19% of the Democratic electorate in this state.<<

So, yeah, you can infer that race, regrettably, played a factor here. What I don't understand is how Ohioans can cite the economy as the top issue yet resoundingly vote for someone who had a big hand in destroying it here. Makes absolutely NO sense, but then, this is Ohio.

:shrug:

I hate to say this, but all of the above indicates to me that McCain will win Ohio hands-down, no matter who the Dem nominee eventually is, as Max also notes elsewhere on this forum.

ON EDIT: Incorrect poster attribution....sorry....

ON EDIT REDUX: I would really like to find a good analysis piece to accompany this. But right now I'm too fried from an evening of work so I'll search the Web tomorrow. I would think this would deserve some attention somewhere; if someone can find and post such a story, please do. Thanks.

[geiger]

1. also, if anyone has time, or has seen something, the R cross-over for HIllary

to avoid an Obama presidency (because they think McCain is better able to beat Hillary than Obama).

It's depressing. Ohio is such an odd conglomerate of economies, faith, race, political alliances.... On edit: add union alliances and competition, anti-union sentiment....

I want to think like Lincoln and trust the ability of the electorate "to figure things out," but another problem is lack of participation. Still too many people looking for excuses not to vote, even turn out. Brunner predicted a turnout of over 50 percent herself, and it was only 44 statewide. Sometimes I think I just don't know nothin know more, and I've been furiously re-reading my Ohio history and politics.....

Sleep well, AngryOldDem, you have done everything you could.

[geiger]

2. As far as race in Wayne County, Strickland was the only Democrat

to win in that election, and my husband and both wondered aloud whether it was simply because Blackwell was black (even though he was a nut case).

Racial divisions are difficult to talk about, though. People hold on to all sorts of prejudices that they themselves can be unaware of.

[geiger]

3. Age

Re-reading the title of your post, I thought that because younger people are generally under-polled, they still have great potential to affect this election.

And by the way, the results in Wayne County were

HILLARY CLINTON 9780 59.36%
JOHN EDWARDS 325 1.97%
BARACK OBAMA 6372 38.67%

Total Votes 16,477