Obama Supporters Keep Slogging In Rural Kentucky

It's hard work being an Obama supporter in Kentucky. According to Sue Koplowitz and the other folks organizing a rally for Saturday September 27 at the public library in London KY, they couldn't find any campaign signs, buttons or stickers to hand out. None of the in-state Democratic Party offices they contacted had any to spare. Sue's small group, Laurel County Democrats for Obama-Biden (www.BarackObama.com), knew they could order the items at substantial cost from the Obama Web site, but shipping time is 4 to 6 weeks, pointless when the election is 6 weeks away.

The group plowed ahead, printing full-color Obama sunrise logo signs and handouts at their own expense. They also invited Jim Holbert to speak. Holbert, a local emergency services helicopter pilot with a career in the US armed forces and as a commercial pilot, is running as an Independent against deeply-entrenched Congressman Hal Rogers. Rogers (Republican, 5th District), in office since 1981, has successfully brought home the bacon to his district -- which stretches across southern and eastern Kentucky -- in the form of schools, roads, community centers, task forces, roads, and more roads. Even so, not everyone likes him, maybe in part due to "King Hal's" well-known arrogance. He has not acknowledged Jim Holbert's existence, and did not show up for Kentucky Educational Television (KET)'s 2008 candidates forum, where Holbert alone spoke on behalf of the 5th District (www.ket.org/election: 5th District).

At 9 a.m. the library conference room was ready for Obama supporters, a table laden with good food and strong coffee. According to Sue, Laurel County Democrats for Obama-Biden was inspired to meet by the impromptu anti-Palin rally in Anchorage, Alaska on September 14 that drew an estimated 1000 passionate people out of the blue. But at 9:30 a.m. the final rally count in London, Kentucky rested at 9 including this intrepid reporter, who drove the 80 miles south on I-75 from Lexington to report on this rare event: people rallying on behalf of a Democratic Party African-American candidate in a Republican stronghold with a history of hostility to blacks.

The news is that the 9-person rally is only a partial indicator of what is going on in Laurel County and places like it. Here, too, change is taking place. The national Democratic Party and Obama's team may have "written off" Kentucky as not worth their time and money, but based on what I saw yesterday in London, Barack Hussein Obama will get a lot more Kentucky votes than he may be expecting.

Kentucky has a vicious segregationist past, and this area of the state has a particularly notorious history. One exit further south along I-75 is the small city of Corbin, probably best-known as the birthplace of Kentucky Fried Chicken's founder, Colonel Harlan Sanders. Less well-known perhaps is that in 1919 the white citizenry of Corbin embarked on a successful ethnic cleansing campaign to drive the black population out of town, recently documented in Elliott Jaspin's 2007 book, Buried in the Bitter Waters: The Hidden History of Racial Cleansing in America. The 2000 Census lists Corbin's African Americans at 0.08% of the total population.

Based on that vile history, plus recent remarks from several area residents that "this campaign has brought racism out in the open down here," and reports of an Obama sign being shot up twice, the mailbox filled with filth and set on fire; verbal abuse hurled at a mixed-race couple; and near-fisticuffs between a black and a white truck driver arguing about Obama vs. McCain at a London truck stop, I was not expecting the public enthusiasm for Obama that I found on Saturday in London.

The 9 rally participants got acquainted, talked intensively for two solid hours, and resolved to work together to get Obama as many local votes as possible. They accepted the obvious limitations to their success, and agreed that theirs is a truly grass-roots campaign. The group solemnly agreed that "it is up to people like us to flip the 20 percent gap between Obama and McCain" in Kentucky. They then headed to the World Chicken Festival going on in downtown London, to help out at the Democratic Women's Club booth. The usually quiet city streets were lined with hundreds of booths and carnival rides and packed with thousands of people, and a heady scent of chicken fried in peanut oil permeated the air.

Near the crest of the hill atop which sits the Laurel County Courthouse, the Republican Party booth faced off almost directly across the crowded street from the Democratic Women's Club booth. Many among the steady flow of strollers wore Mitch McConnell re-election stickers on their shirts. Senator McConnell, the ultimate bacon-bringer of recent times, is also up for re-election in Kentucky. While Republicans are confident that he will prevail against Democratic challenger Bruce Lunsford, the Democrats across the street were putting up a good fight, their booth plastered with lurid "Ditch Mitch" signs.

Thanks solely to Sue Koplowitz and her small rally group, the booth also had a pile of colorful Obama signs and handouts explaining the Presidential candidate's position on the issues. Sue stood next to the booth with signs and flyers, calling out to passers-by, "Vote for Obama! Come register to vote!" And this is where the quiet signs of change were visible. Local Democratic Party leader Roy Sizemore told me that at an event like this, they usually sign up "about 15 to 20 new voters," presumably Democrats (the Republican booth across the street was doing the same thing.) This year, Roy said, they had signed up "about 45" by mid-afternoon on Saturday. As he spoke, I saw a young man at the booth bend down to fill out the form. Sue reported a trend of "older people bringing daughters" to register. All white folks.

Before heading back to Lexington I pulled Sue Koplowitz aside to ask her a few questions about the rally and the election. Did she think her group, Laurel County Democrats for Obama-Biden, could have an impact on the election? Yes, she replied, "We'll get a few more Democrats voting in a place that for a long time has not offered any choices." What has the group achieved so far? "Increasing awareness of Barack Obama and what he stands for." To my final question, What do you hope to achieve in November? Sue replied with gusto, "We are shaking up the local status quo. We are introducing change to a place that is dead set against it. It's soon going to be our kids' world, and they have to get involved now."

Late that same evening, Sue reported by email that the pace of change was continuing as Saturday faded into night at the World Chicken Festival: "People that hollered McCAIN! I hollered back MORE OF THE SAME! Two brave ladies from the crowd ended up joining me in waving our Obama signs! Lots of 18-yr-old folk saying they are already registered and going to vote! I went and printed up 150 more Obama signs & handed them out til they were gone, we ran out of almost all of the handouts when I left and they still had 2 hours to go. Maybe hope for this town yet! It's been a long day but a good one. Best, Sue."

Comments

[jadeba]

Great job. It's a hard, uphill battle - I live in Colorado, hard here but not as tough as Kentucky. Any progress, anywhere, is good news so keep it up and thank you for your persistence and enthusiasm. The repubs have survived by discouraging the electorate, by fostering apathy. We let them continue, unopposed, they win.

[Brian Ross - Huffpost Blogger]

Bless every last one of you. Really.

[IndependentforObama]

I think it is a waste of time campaigning in KY.

It is not worth the trouble. Look at the population distribution, education and exposure wise. Most are just ignorant and afraid.

Let them vote McCain. Maybe he can be President of Only Kentucky! hahahahahahaha

[Lisa Solod Warren - Huffpost Blogger]

As a native east Tennessean now living in Virginia, I've written about racism in the South for HuffPo, too.... and it's not just Kentucky. I think Virginia just may go blue this year, which would be a miracle, but even if it doesn't we have made major inroads. This race has opened eyes and minds. It may take awhile but things are changing and Obama is partly responsible. Racism exists everywhere, yes, but it is more open and easier to see and therefore, perhaps, easier to fight and change, in the South. I love living in the South, though, and doubt I'll leave.

[hollynolting]

Bravo for winning more over in Kentucky!

[HilaryLambert]

Kernelkat, below:

You instantly fell into that distinctive Kentucky defensive crouch: "Don't paint everyone in the state with the same brush," without reading very carefully.

The whole POINT of the post is to dispel stereotypes.
While reminding readers that racism exists.

Read it again, and calm down.

Hilary Lambert

[Kohimama]

Democracy in action. Good on ya Kentuckians!

[yareallygotmegoin]

I live in Lexington KY, am from Paducah in far western KY. I was over there a coupla weeks ago. I saw many more Obama yard signs than McPalin. I think the margin of victory in KY by McPalin will be much smaller than the polls are indicating.

[kernelkat]

I'm from Kentucky and I feel like I'm living in a different state than the people in the article. Just because some parts of Kentucky are rural and perhaps poor doesn't mean the entire state is that way. Please remember don't judge and don't paint everyone in the state with the same brush. There are just as many differing opinions and lifestyles in Kentucky as any other place in the U.S. Yes a lot of rural people in Kentucky are voting for McCain but it's because they will always vote Republican, no matter who the opponent is.

[williebite]

I am a proud Obama/Biden supporter and a Kentuckian, along with a lot of my friends here in central Ky.

With Obama we recognize the opportunity to move into the future with pride, as opposed to wallowing in the same old worn out rut with McCain and his insanely infantile choice for VP.
She's dangerous...

It embarrasses me that bigotry is still so alive in this state. What year is this?

I can only hope that everyone WAKES UP soon enough.

[HilaryLambert]

Especially to ktbuckman, plainthoughts, kynatureboy and other Kentuckians -

I am not "from here," and you know how important that is to Kentuckians -- along with what county you are from, and who your relatives are.

I have however lived in KY long enough to develop some empathy about the issues that relentlessly bedevil folks here.

Yes, there is a strong streak of self-hatred among Kentuckians.
Yes, they expect the worst out of life -- and often get it.
Yes, it is a poor state, and under the thumb of King Coal.

But my 15 years of experience in London, Somerset, Bonnieville, Mt Vernon, and many other places across the Commonwealth of KY tells me that there are good people everywhere you go; and a lot of them are voting for Barack Obama.

Hilary Lambert
(Hi Oliverio)

[kynatureboy]

Hilary, you're right on in this comment and in your article. You obviously understand Kentucky and its issues, which means you're just as much a true Kentuckian as anybody else. The only problem I had was with that word in the title, nothing in the article itself. I didn't mean to imply otherwise.

[ktbuckman]

I also feel like your article is a spot on depiction of the state of things in KY right now. And I wouldn't doubt your "cred" as a Kentuckian. I just always fear that people who have no experience of rural/southern existence will read or watch things about Kentucky and make judgments based on what they think they know. I'm sure I'm over-defensive about it, but I've lived in Massachusetts for a few years now and had to endure plenty of blanket comments about the "racist south" from people who are pretty self-righteous and ready to believe that anyone who wouldn't vote for someone because they are black is just evil. So I'm always rushing to insist on a more nuanced picture. 'Cause there's a whole lot of people (who I love) who unfortunately would never vote for a black man, and I have to believe that they are not evil.

[plainthoughts]

I'm from kentucky. People in that state i'm sorry to admit will vote their hate instead of their pockets. The educational system stinks, people don't have jobs, so people have nothing else to cling to but their hate. It is easier to blame someone else for your problems then to solve them yourself, that's common practice for the people of the state of kentucky.

[oliverio]

This is Oliver, in Columbus, OH!

In regards to McCain--More of the same!

A few others that I've found useful, especially on football game day:

When hearing "NObama!", reply "Yo mama!"

A general all-purpose one (like when you're scrumming to get in the door to vote at 8AM), "Obamanos!"

[ktbuckman]

I'm a Kentuckian, and I have some thoughts here. For those of you who are not Kentuckians, don't make the mistake of patting yourself on the back for being so much more enlightened than the folks below the Mason-Dixon. While there are some that have been raised on hate, there are many more who simply cannot imagine the world different than what they have always seen. Who can really? And when you have always seen black people as simply and utterly different than yourself, and had that perception reinforced by everyone around you, it is not malicious to feel that a black candidate can't represent you. With that disclaimer, I agree that things are going to change in KY and that people have to keep pushing for that change no matter how discouraging.
However, I hate to say it, but people registering to vote at the Democratic booth might not be as encouraging in rural KY as you think. In much of KY elections at the local level are decided at the primary because often the only candidates running are democrats. And we have closed primaries, so if you want to vote in the local elections, it is standard practice to register as a democrat regardless of your politics. However, even in the KY the young people are the ones who can imagine a world that is different than their parents, so young people voting is definitely good. Twenty somethings in KY watch the Daily Show too.

[HilaryLambert]

Thanks so much to you all for this great support.

Sue and the gang in Laurel County are grateful too, and want to keep the message positive:

No matter what the experts and headline writers say, a lot of people in rural Kentucky and other parts of the country are going to vote for Obama-Biden.

Heading north, I have just had a call from my son Oliver in Columbus OH: he and about twenty other OSU students camped out in tents last night (or in Oliver's case, out on the sidewalk) to be the first to VOTE for Obama-Biden! Congrats you lucky ducks...I hope to share more on this later.

Your friendly "heartland" blogger,
HilaryLambert