Undecideds, and how some are deciding - Interesting! [View All]

[FrenchieCat]

Wall Street Journal article....John Butler gets the most ink, but there are a few other stories....

NOVEMBER 1, 2008

In Ohio, Downturn Upends Old Loyalties

BOARDMAN, Ohio -- John Butler's flower business is in such bad shape he's laid off 25 of his 26 employees and canceled his health insurance. Two weeks ago, the lifelong Republican voter made a decision just as dramatic: He plans to support Democratic Sen. Barack Obama.


John Butler, owner of struggling Burkland Floral near Youngstown, Ohio,
and a lifelong Republican, says, 'I looked at my situation and realized
I couldn't afford to vote for McCain. I was as shocked as anyone.'


The economic downturn has been felt especially hard here in the Mahoning Valley, a Democratic Party stronghold in Northeast Ohio. The unemployment rate is above the national average. Home foreclosure signs are ubiquitous. Mahoning County also is one of a dozen or so districts straddling the Ohio-Pennsylvania border where Sen. John McCain has targeted blue-collar Democrats.

But as the economic crisis has deepened, voters here are reacting in unexpected ways. Some, like Joe Sullivan, are plain angry.
-snip-

Mr. Butler is a fiscal conservative from an Irish Catholic family who has owned three bars and restaurants, a handful of investment properties and several retail and wholesale flower businesses. His primary motive at the ballot box has always been to keep taxes low and government small.

Through the 1990s, Mr. Butler's successfully ran his businesses in the relatively prosperous working-class suburbs outside of the fading steel town of Youngstown. That all changed with in the slowdown that followed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Mr. Butler sold his other enterprises to keep his flagship business, Burkland Floral, afloat. But when gas prices soared this summer, so did the price of flowers -- most flown in from Colombia. As costs rose, profits shriveled further.

Since his troubles began seven years ago, Mr. Butler, who is 56, has endured open heart surgery, employee layoffs, the loss of his own health insurance -- and now, his political affiliation. "It's scary," he said.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122550296751690121.html