Free Republic

If I had to boil down the political wisdom I’ve learned over four decades of observing, studying, writing, and debating, it would be this… Life in Rural America (which is where Republican Trump voters live and govern), is clean, safe and racially tolerant. Most places in America where life is dirty, polluted, dangerous, violent, and plagued with racial hate and race riots, are cities that are almost exclusively populated by and governed by Democrats.

Democrats are homing in on a strategy they hope will bring new rural voters into the fold through hyperlocal economic messaging and by venturing into parts of the country they ignored in the run-up to the 2016 election. There’s a coordinated effort among the House Democratic campaign arm, presidential candidates and liberal outside groups to address the party’s rural blind spot by finding new ways to speak to white working class voters and rural black voters in key battleground states and districts in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Illinois and New York. Democrats believe they’re making inroads with the white working...

In an Instagram post on Monday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said the Electoral College needs to be abolished. One of her main gripes with the system was its so-called "racism.""The Electoral College has a racial injustice breakdown," AOC explained. "Due to severe racial disparities in certain states, the electoral college effectively weights white voters over voters of color, as opposed to a 'one person, one vote' system where all are counted equally."She addressed the biggest concern behind abolishing the Electoral College: with populous blue states making the decisions for the country as a whole."You may have heard this Electoral College...

The much demonized kulaks (a/k/a the top 5%, 2%, 0r 1% depending upon the speech) were the first to rise up against Obama. Now the kulaks have been joined by the common peasantry, via NPR: As Mitt Romney and President Obama get ready for their second debate, a new bipartisan survey shows a surge for Romney in a key voter group following their first debate Oct. 3. The random cellphone and land line poll of 600 likely rural voters in nine battleground states Oct. 9-11 has Romney at 59 percent among the survey’s respondents. Obama’s support is now down to...

The night Barack Obama is expected to accept the Democratic nomination will be Aug. 28, the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" address from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. King had a dream, and Barack Obama is part of its fulfillment. We live in a more just and open country than we did 45 years ago, a country where an African-American may be elected president. That doesn't mean the country is perfectly just, or that we live in a new, post-racial era. But concerns about race in this election are overstated. Do many rural or...

When Americans nominate their presidential candidates next year, the Second Amendment won't be the first thing on their minds. The issue didn't even appear in a recent CNN poll that found that the economy, Iraq, health care, immigration, and terrorism are the nation's biggest concerns. But in a country where 36 percent of Democrats and 48 percent of Republicans have firearms in their homes, the issue is still a locked and loaded one for candidates of both parties. Republican presidential hopefuls, as expected, worked hard to win over the members of the National Rifle Association at the organization's convention in...

Republican George W. Bush maintains a 12-point lead over Democrat John Kerry among rural voters in battleground states, according to the most recent poll by the 80-55 Coalition for Rural America. Among likely voters in rural parts of 17 swing states, 53 percent favor Bush while 41 percent favor Kerry. The result is essentially unchanged from September, when Bush led the rural battleground by 13 points, 55 percent to 42 percent. "President Bush has solidified his vote in the rural areas," said Bill Greener, a Republican strategist and an adviser to the poll. "I believe this will be sufficient to...

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"/> July 2, 2004 Bush and Kerry Vie for Support of Rural VotersBy ROBIN TONER LOQUET, Minn., July 1 — Four years ago, George W. Bush won some of his biggest and most decisive margins among rural and small-town voters. But Democrats say economic troubles and the war in Iraq have taken a disproportionate toll on rural communities. They vow that the struggle for these voters will be — must be — far more competitive this time around. So Senator John Kerry will come on Friday to Cloquet, not far from Duluth, and kick...