In my home state of Connecticut, John Kerry leads by a similarly slim seven points in another case of a reliably blue state in danger of going code red.
It is easy enough to attribute these numbers to a post-9/11 mentality, seeing as the great majority of those murdered at the World Trade Center lived in these states--indeed, one of the saddest sights in the nights immediately following that awful day was that of abandoned cars dotting commuter parking lots, never to be reclaimed by their owners.
But it is more than security and revenge factors that may lead to the defection of these new Democrats. Here in the Northeast, we have a strange phenomenon where most of our elected officials represent the Democratic majority, but our governors (even in liberal bastion Massachusetts) are almost all Republicans, reflecting a quirky combination of fiscal conservativism and social liberalism.
Local elections aside, it seems that the many of my fellow Yankees--at least those of the Connecticut variety--are eschewing switch-hitting and considering planting their feet firmly in the right side of the batter’s box...
...Come November, these new Democrats may not carry the day for President Bush, but as the polls show, they will make many in their party sit up and take notice. But if they flip even one of these states into the red column, it will be a Nor’easter that will fell many in its wake.
Excellent- good foresight!