Milwaukee Labor Press : Thinking out loud: Why Obama's winning

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.milwaukeelabor.org/in_the_news/article.cfm?n_id=0064

Even the Moderates Are Moving to His Camp

By Dominique Paul Noth
Editor, Milwaukee Labor Press
What a curious race for the White House and the Congress. At this point it seems that Republicans can only win November 4 by discouraging voter turnout while the Democrats must strive for record turnout to guarantee a mandate for change.

Six months ago, there were Democratic strategists who were counting on conservative coolness to John McCain to keep his party from the polls. Some even called it the key to a Barack Obama victory. They were as wrong then as the McCain forces are now to try to counter Obama’s gains by pursuing phantoms of voter fraud. Related stories will appear in October’s Labor Press.

The surprise in this election is the goodly portion of moderate Republicans and religious conservatives actually listening favorably to Obama.

So they tell pollsters. So they told me not only in Waukesha and Ozaukee counties but also on an October visit to New York City, where I shared airports, Wall Street visits and restaurant meals with a number who identified themselves as “lifelong Republicans,” “diehard conservatives” and even “former McCain admirers.”


Hundreds of labor enthusiasts for Obama at the state AFL-CIO gathering.

Not just financial crisis has forced them to rethink. So has a growing understanding of the record. Obama, they conceded, had proved neither as liberal nor as tax-happy as painted -- and perhaps more in touch with traditional American optimism and frugality and even broader family values than his main opponent for the presidency. His response to financial crisis also reassured them that he had the experience and temperament.

FULL story at link.