Word: oaklanders
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...other challenge Obama faces in Oakland is Michigan's tainted Democratic brand. Democratic governor Jennifer Granholm has an approval rating of only 20%. And in Detroit, which lies just on the other side of 8 Mile Road, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick faces a long litany of legal and ethical woes stemming from his affair with a co-worker. Kilpatrick had to post a $7,500 bond to remain out of jail and take a court-ordered drug test. Republicans hope a weakened Democratic machine in Detroit will hamper Obama's effort in the fall. "Obama will have to go in himself...
Despite its wealth, Oakland is feeling pain from the economic downturn. The most recent round of auto-industry cuts has walloped white collar engineers and researchers who call Oakland County home. Take a drive through the hardest-hit neighborhoods, and you'll see blocks on which one-third or more of the houses have a FOR SALE sign planted in their front yard. The mix of layoffs and a depressed real estate market has forced some highly trained workers to take jobs in other states and leave their families behind in unsold homes...
...paper, Oakland should be McCain territory. His politics don't emphasize the kind of social conservatism that has driven many of the county's Republican voters away from the GOP in recent years. And he's a known quantity--independents and Democrats cast votes for him in the 2000 GOP primary to spite then governor John Engler, who had promised to deliver the state for George W. Bush. "A lot of people still have an affinity for John McCain," says Oakland University political scientist "David Dulio. "They voted for him once, and he might be able to take advantage...
...Detroit and say the auto industry needed to raise fuel-efficiency standards. It was an obvious way to establish his reputation as a "different kind of politician." But it didn't help his relative weakness among blue collar voters. Now Obama has to run up a healthy margin among Oakland's affluent independents and Republicans, who have been crossing over to vote Democratic in recent elections. David Woodward, the county Democratic chairman, says many potential Obama supporters "are really moderate Republicans. They're pro-choice. Their hairstylists are gay. They don't get worked up about teaching evolution...
That may explain why Obama and his wife have visited the state five times since he clinched the Democratic nomination and have made more stops in Oakland County than in any other part of the state. McCain has been to Michigan six times since mid-March, stopping in Oakland once. By mid-July, the two campaigns had spent at least $5.6 million on television advertising in the state. And as the economy has worsened this summer, both candidates have talked of shifting Michigan to a greener economy and developing biofuels and electric cars in lieu of SUVS and trucks...