Obama in Martinsville

By Published by The Editorial Board

Published: August 19, 2008

Barack Obama’s visit to Martinsville Wednesday tells us two things about his presidential campaign: Obama wants to sell his economic development plan to rural Americans, and he still thinks he can win Virginia’s 13 electoral votes.

Unlike his campaign stop in Lynchburg Wednesday, Obama’s town hall meeting in Martinsville will be by invitation only.

But instead of falling into the trap of inviting party members and supporters — the political equivalent of preaching to the choir — Obama wants to meet with people who have lost their jobs to foreign competition.

That applies to thousands of people in the Dan River Region. Wednesday’s event at Patrick Henry Community College will be for no more than 300.

The conventional wisdom is Democrats can’t win in rural areas because their positions on social issues such as abortion, gay rights, firearms and the death penalty are so different from the prevailing views of rural America.

It’s also hard to predict how a local visit by Obama will translate into votes. Two years ago, congressional candidate Al Weed and Senate candidate Jim Webb both visited striking Goodyear workers on the picket line here in Danville, while their Republican opponents — Virgil Goode and George Allen — did not. On Election Day, though, it was the Republicans who won.

The Democrat’s best chance to do well in rural Virginia is to stick to economic development issues. That certainly worked for former governor and current Senate candidate Mark Warner.

“I’ll never forget Mark Warner standing in the rain at Pillowtex listen to person after person talk to him about their concerns,” Henry County Democratic Chairman Phil Burnette said, recalling Warner’s visit to his community after more than 950 jobs were lost when a plant in Fieldale closed.

Obama is wisely sticking to the one issue — the economy — that can give him the most political traction here. If the issue voters are worried about on Election Day is the economy, Obama wants his plan to be the one they’re thinking about when they walk into the voting booth.

Even if local residents aren’t impressed with Obama’s economic plan, he deserves credit for coming this close to Danville this close to the election. We’re not used to this kind of national political attention focused on the problems so many of us claim are so important to life in our communities.

That leaves just one question: How come only one campaign is coming down here to talk about jobs?