The Rural Debate

An interesting essay by Jay Cost on McCain's possible rural vote problem. He posits ethanol might be the culprit. I would say it may come down to whether the farmers and the cowboys can put country first and be friends. Can you sing Oklahoma?

Ethanol is not an energy saver and is hugely wasteful of water. Beyond that, it pushes up feed costs, so hog farmers and cattle ranchers are not happy. Maybe dairy farmers figure in that too, I don't know.

Farm states often are red states for president but at times vote for Democrats/subsidies down the ticket. Palin will help McCain but Obama is pushing the "pork" of the farm bill.Then again, due to high grain prices, many farmers' income is at an all time high, so they are not so attuned to Obama's victim message.

P.S. And the Obama campaign has conceded some Red states. I think the moose sighting was a leading indicator.