[Pen-l] McCain's Michigan Woes May Widen as Economy Hits Working Class

["Charles Brown" <charlesb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

McCain's Michigan Woes May Widen as Economy  Hits Working Class 
By Heidi Przybyla 
 

 (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=photos&sid=adM8Fq0RTis0) 

Oct. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Kari Durell, a 38-year-old waitress, had her
doubts  about Barack Obama after reading wild Internet rumors that he
trained with  al-Qaeda terrorists as a child. She's voting for him
anyway.  
``My main issue is health care, and I think a Democrat would do more,''
said  Durell, who works at a riverside bar near a _Ford Motor Co._
(http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=F:US) -managed  stamping
plant in southeast Michigan that's about to close.  
Voters like Durell used to be called ``Reagan Democrats,''
working-class  people who embraced _Ronald Reagan_
(http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Ronald+Reagan&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1)
 in 1980  and every Republican presidential candidate ever since over
cultural issues such  as abortion, guns and patriotism. Senator _John
McCain_
(http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=John+McCain&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1)
 needs their  support in a big way this year.  
McCain's campaign last week, however, pulled out of Michigan, a state
that  only a month earlier was one of the Republican presidential
nominee's top  targets. Interviews with dozens of workers and elderly
voters illustrate why:  Michigan, whose _8.9 percent jobless  rate_
(http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=USUSMICH:IND)  is the
highest in the nation, is filled with economic anxiety, and  McCain was
gaining no traction there.  
The trials he faces in places like _Macomb_
(http://www.macombcountymi.gov/index.htm)  and _Monroe_
(http://www.co.monroe.mi.us/monroe/default.aspx)  counties -- 
largely white, Catholic enclaves near Detroit where many people make
between  $40,000 and $60,000 a year -- are mirrored throughout
industrial battleground  states from Ohio and Pennsylvania to Missouri. 

_George W. Bush_
(http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=George+W.+Bush&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1)
 won the  support of these firefighters, carpenters, autoworkers,
electricians and  retirees by a margin of 15 percentage points in each
of his two presidential  races, exit polls showed. McCain has to do as
well.  
`I'm Not Sure'  
That won't be easy. Voter thirst for a new economic direction after
eight  years of Bush is overpowering issues like gun rights, gay
marriage and even race  that have helped the Republicans run up votes in
the past.  
``I've been a Republican all my life, but right now I'm not sure,''
said  Joyce Moynihan, a retired homemaker and member of _St. Mark
Catholic  Church_ (http://www.ourchurch.com/member/s/STMARKPARISH/)  in
Macomb County who's leaning toward Obama. ``Of course, I'm 
anti-abortion, but you can battle this forever. The economy and the war
have got  to be addressed'' and ``something dramatic has to happen,''
she said.  
To be certain, McCain, 72, has pockets of support.  
Those who plan to vote for the Arizona senator cite concern about what
they  say is Obama's lack of experience. Some say they see no difference
between the  two candidates on the economy and plan to continue voting
Republican. For a few,  the race issue was barely beneath the surface. 

Avoiding `Race Card'  
McCain ``has more experience than his opponent, and he's not playing
the race  card,'' said Ken Benardo, a 49-year-old carpenter from _Flint_
(http://www.cityofflint.com/)  who said the country isn't ready for a 
black president. Brian Bennett, a 25-year-old construction worker from
Detroit,  said he may begin voting this year, but it won't be for Obama,
47, an Illinois  senator.  
Still, just one voter interviewed, a Republican, mentioned abortion as
a main  issue. No one cited gun rights or gay marriage, which was such a
hot ballot  initiative in Ohio in 2004 that it helped Bush carry the
state and secure  victory.  
For Cornelia Glowacki, an 81-year-old retired hospital employee who
lives in  Warren, north of Detroit, morals and values extend beyond
issues like abortion  to the war in Iraq.  
``The big issue with Catholics is the abortion issue, but look at all
the  young fellas that have lost their lives,'' said Glowacki, who plays
cards with  Moynihan and other seniors once a week at St. Mark Church in
Warren.  
Economic Survival  
For most, economic survival is the chief concern.  
Michigan has _lost 40,000 manufacturing  jobs_
(http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=BLM0MI01:IND)  in the
past year. And workers interviewed cited anxiety over the rising  cost
of fuel and health care, home foreclosures, the disappearance of unions
and  anticipated cuts in Social Security. Most of them wanted Senator
_Hillary Clinton_
(http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Hillary+Clinton&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1)
 to be  the nominee, but now say they'll support any Democrat, including
Obama, as the  country's economic picture turns grim.  
They range from a 55-year-old worker at the _Automotive Components
Holdings_
(http://media.ford.com/newsroom/release_display.cfm?release=21794) 
stamping plant in Monroe who  is losing his home, to an autoworker, who
must drive 100 miles to his plant each  day; a sickly, retired pipe
fitter, who says there are no good-paying jobs in  the state for his
children and grandchildren; and a single mother, who recently  incurred
$50,000 in medical expenses she doubts she'll ever be able to repay.  
``We can't afford to drive,'' said Sue Hill, a 43-year-old pipe fitter
from  nearby Newport who took a $4-an-hour pay cut to work closer to
home.  
Crippling Job Losses  
Job losses have devastated local families, said Dave Desloover, a
37-year-old  counselor to workers at Automotive Components, which is due
to close by the end  of this year. ``There are a lot of families that
are breaking up because of  these pressures,'' he said, citing seven
divorces out of a few hundred _United Auto Workers union_
(http://www.uaw.org/)  members in just the  last month.  
Monroe was once a thriving manufacturing center that provided
middle-class  lifestyles to generations of immigrants working for
companies including Monroe  Paper Products Co. and Consolidated Paper
Co. and furniture-maker _La-Z-Boy Inc._
(http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=LZB:US)   
The scaling back of the stamping plant and the shutdown of a plastics
factory  owned by the same company have taken 4,000 jobs in the past
year alone, said  Royce Maniko, Monroe County planning director.  
`More Than Two Classes'  
``I worked at Ford for 42 years, and my kids won't have that chance, my
 grandkids won't have that chance,'' said Jim Gross, a 65-year-old
retired die  maker from Monroe who voted for Reagan and now votes
Democratic. ``It's about  the middle class. We need to have more than
two classes.''  
In Monroe, the feeling that the middle class is under siege is so
strong that  the election has become personal. One worker from a nearby
energy plant would  only give his first name for fear his plans to vote
for McCain would be held  against him in the workplace.  
Around the corner from the plant, at UAW local 723, paper banners
decorate  the main hall, reading: ``A worker voting Republican is like a
chicken voting  for Colonel Sanders'' and ``Out of a job yet? Keep
voting Republican.''  
In _Warren_ (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=BLM7LJ0C:IND) ,
home to _Chrysler Corp._
(http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=2251Q:US)  and _General
Motors Corp._ (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=GM:US)  
plants, economic angst is overshadowing cultural concerns, and the anger
and  frustration is palpable.  
`Economy Is Terrible'  
Bill Lovell is a 37-year-old _National Rifle  Association_
(http://www.nra.org/)  instructor who voted for Republican _Ron Paul_
(http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Ron+Paul&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1)
 in this year's  primary and now worries about his job as a line worker
at a Chrysler truck  plant. ``I'm a human, so I'm voting Obama,'' said
Lovell. ``The economy is  terrible, and we need somebody who actually
understands what the working people  want.''  
Deborah Sanders is a 57-year-old shipping and receiving clerk who frets
about  the lack of prayer in public schools, talks openly about the role
of God in her  life and is concerned about Obama's ``background and
beliefs.'' Still, she says  she's leaning toward him.  
``I don't know if our economy and our country can handle another four
years  of what we've already gone through,'' said Sanders. Her son, a
foreman, was  unemployed for four years, lost his home and ultimately
left the state to find  work.  
Still, Mike Keck, a UAW benefits representative who is working hard to
get  Obama elected, said it's a challenge to move some workers off the
cultural  issues.  
``We all still have guns. That doesn't change,'' he said. Meantime,
``we're  all losing our jobs.''  



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