The end for BHO? loosing even Mich: Race, economy lead Mich. voters to waver on Obama
Michigan’s history of racial tensions is tugging against its Democratic tendencies, giving Barack Obama fits when most everything else potentially benefits Democrats: a soaring unemployment rate, shrinking auto industry and depressed housing market.
The first minority candidate with a serious shot at the presidency is not running as well as his Democratic predecessors among working-class whites in this pivotal Midwestern swing state, partly because of the color of his skin.
“I’ve got a lot of friends … (who) are like, `Oh, no,”’ when it comes to voting for a black presidential candidate, said John Martin, a 42-year-old Democrat from Macomb County’s Harrison Township who backs Obama. “They’re all working people, all in unions, plumbers and stuff like that. … A few of them have said they’re not even going to vote.”
That attitude could cost Obama in a state that has voted Democratic since 1988, but in ever-narrower percentages. Democrat Al Gore defeated George W. Bush by 5 percentage points in 2000, but Democrat John Kerry won against Bush by just 3 percentage points in 2004.