Biden bids for blue-collar voters below the media radar

[babylonsister]

Biden bids for blue-collar voters below the media radar
By David Goldstein | McClatchy Newspapers


LIMA, Ohio — Few Democrats venture into this Republican stronghold

in northeastern Ohio, where President Bush swamped John Kerry 2-1 four years ago.

But on this crisp, sunny autumn weekend, in the final lap before Election Day, Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden continued to press his below-the-radar guerilla strikes into enemy territory.

He walked into the Kewpee Hamburger parlor Halloween night in Lima, where local factories probably make more M-1 tanks and Ford V-6 engines than there are Democrats.

The six-term senator from Delaware shook hands with diners, ordered malts and burgers for the campaign bus crowd and said, "We think we can compete everywhere. And as you can see, we're going everywhere."

Williamsport, Pa. Virginia Beach, Va. Marion, Ohio. All are Republican redoubts in key states, and all are recent Biden destinations.

"We're in places that have never seen a Democratic candidate before," said Isaac Baker, a spokesman for the Obama campaign in the Buckeye State.

Biden patrols the underbelly of the presidential battlegrounds. Democrats believe the economic crisis has made these areas ripe for political reversals. And if they can at least cut the GOP margin on once-safe turf, well, Indiana, which hasn't backed a Democrat for president in more than five decades, is now basically tied.


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