I live in a red, red part of Virginia and we held our first Obama town hall meeting on the evening that John McCain gave his acceptance speech at the RNC convention. September 4th -- It was the very height of Sarah Palin fever -- she was eclipsing everything, not a tv channel on the dial was immune from the visage of the perky Governor. With a storm surge the equal of a Cat 4 hurricane, Palin had overtopped the airwaves at every turn.
But not here. Not in this small town. This is the short, but instructive, story about how Sarah Palin did not make an appearance in Culpeper, Virginia and why that is so important.
As I've sporadically diaried here, here and here, I have been an Obama for President supporter since 2005 and this election season has stunned me at almost every turn. I never would have predicted Obama would handily win my county or state in the primary. This part of Virginia hasn't been considered a battleground anything since Union troops met up here to fight Stonewall Jackson. I was astounded when our first organzing meeting back in June drew more than 70 people and floored when our county was assigned our very own paid Obama staffer. I was bowled over by the response to our Obama office opening, but when we sought out undecided voters and scheduled a town hall, I really didn't think we'd see much of a turnout. It had been raining and it was a week night. It was the last night of the GOP convention -- surely, even Democrats out of curiosity wanted to watch McCain's speech.
We had no "super big political names" for the event - no local candidates, no former governors, but we were very fortunate to have two members of the state level Obama campaign and a member of Obama's Senate legislative staff to field questions.
To my astonishment, 137 people -- about 1/3 who identified themselves as "undecided" -- showed up. Many middle aged and older, a few college students. About 30 percent African American -- the same percentage as our county population as a whole. I'd say about an equal number of men and women.
After a very brief overview of Senator Obama's Blueprint for Change, the floor was opened to questions. The town hall leaders encouraged the undecideds to ask their questions first.
I was ready. Braced in my seat for the onslaught of questions about the Republicans, their selection of this surprise pick from Alaska, the strategy behind such a choice, the probing and challenging of campaign tactics and poll fluctuations. What new dynamic would Palin bring to the contest? Shouldn't Obama have a woman on the ticket? Etc., Etc.
But there was nothing of the sort. Nada. Zero. Zippo. The Palin name was not uttered. For 90 minutes, the audience asked questions. Not a single soul mentioned Sarah.
So what did the assembled masses want to know about? Here's a detailed rundown of all the topics:
THE ECONOMY
Plain and simple. They wanted to know about the economy in all its permutations -- the cost of healthcare; home foreclosures (our area has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the state); the creation of jobs; outsourcing jobs; taxes on small businesses; taxes on the middle class; the future of medicare and medicaid; the privatization of social security; capital gains taxes; the cost of gas and alternative energy development; the cost of college.
Yes, there were a few questions on protecting the environment; one on supporting unions and another on the U.S. position on torture.
The last questioner, a slightly built man in his mid-fifties (I'd guess), stood up and brusquely asked, "When will Barack Obama bring our troops out of Iraq?" The designated answerer started a lengthy response and the impatient questioner cut him off. "How long?" he insisted. The Obama guy answered succinctly this time: "16 months." The questioner smiled, waved a hand and said, "Thanks, that's all I needed to hear. He has my vote," as he left the hall.
Like I said, Sarah Palin did not come to our town hall meeting. For that matter, John McCain was not much in evidence either.
Here's what I learned in a way I did not comprehend before:Our fellow citizens our hurting -- really, really hurting. It's not just they want the change Obama represents, their very security and well-being requires such change.