CS Monitor on Obama's appeal in an "evangelical epicenter" (Nixa, MO)

[highplainsdem]

http://www.csmonitor.com/patchworknation/csmstaff/2008/0806/obama-tries-bringing-%E2%80%98change%E2%80%99-to-evangelical-epicenter/

Obama tries bringing ‘change’ to Evangelical Epicenter
Dante Chinni
Posted: 08.06.2008 / 8:26 AM EDT

Two days ago, something odd appeared on West Mount Vernon Street in Nixa, Mo. – a campaign office for Barack Obama.

Nixa, a center of social conservatism, is one of the 11 communities that Patchwork Nation is watching during the campaign. It represents “Evangelical Epicenters,” places with high numbers of evangelical adherents. In 2004, it went heavily for President Bush: He got 70 percent of the vote in the county where Nixa is located, Christian County.

In short, Nixa is not the most conventional spot for Senator Obama to locate an office, and it has some people in town scratching their heads.

-snip-

No one expects Obama to win Christian County or Nixa, but people on the ground there say they wouldn’t be surprised if he scores more votes than the Democratic nominee in 2004, John Kerry. A very basic part of Obama’s message, the desire for change, has its share of supporters here.

-snip-

Kristi Bohannon, who owns a local Sonic franchise, is a solid Republican. But, she says, she knows “people who are planning to vote Obama because they don’t want more of George Bush, and they perceive McCain to be more of Bush and therefore are, in effect, voting for ‘change.’ ”

What’s driving those kinds of feelings? The economy, says Matt Roberts, editor of the NixaXPress, is “a big deal” in Nixa. “We’ve been growing like wildfire, and suddenly we’ve hit a brick wall in the last year.”

-snip-

The economic troubles are registering particularly with young people who are having a hard time getting their lives and careers started, says the Rev. Gary Swearengin of the Nixa Church of the Nazarene.

“There is a general disdain for the way the Republicans have handled the economy,” he says. He expects Obama will do better in the area than Senator Kerry did.

Along with the economy, several people in the community mention the Iraq war as an area where Nixa voters want change. “I don’t think people think there is a … chance … of us winning the war,” Mr. Swearengin says. “It’s a civil war over there, and people want to see their boys come home.”

-snip-

More at the link. Interesting article from the Monitor's Patchwork Nation blog.

[RayOfHope]

1. The best thing about this location is that its in a strip mall with a giant church

thats in a vacated grocery store that was the anchor of the mall. I'll bet I drives those fundies nuts.