Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Older whites seen as key constituency in capturing Ohio
Presidential notebook
WASHINGTON - For all the talk about young voters, Hispanics, Muslims, women, blacks or new voters, one of the country's top demographers said the key swing group in Ohio this year will be the same one it has always been: older whites.
William Frey, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program, said the efforts to win the loyalty of the nation's younger and multiethnic future may be admirable - but they're misplaced this year. In fact, older whites will pick the president, because they dominate the key states like Ohio.
With young people heading for more cosmopolitan places, Ohio is made up of "left-behinds," Frey opined in Brookings' weekly update Tuesday.
"The left-behind populations are made up disproportionately of white seniors and aging boomers, including current and ex-blue-collar workers who have borne the brunt of heavy industry's demise," he wrote.
More than a third of the voting-age population in Ohio consists of whites over 45 who don't have a college degree. They're interested in jobs, Social Security and health care. This is the group Kerry and Bush need to appeal to.
Wanderlust
Most congressmen spend every waking moment in the last week before an election relentlessly canvassing their districts.
The Terrace Park Republican set out Tuesday on a three-day RV trip across 27 Ohio counties - and none of them is in his 2nd congressional district. He's campaigning for President Bush in Akron, Ashland, Canton, Columbus, Mansfield, Toledo and Zanesville.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State has filed a formal complaint with the Internal Revenue Service against a Bond Hill pastor who endorsed Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards from the pulpit last Sunday.
The Rev. Donald H. Jordan Sr., introducing Edwards at the Allen Temple A.M.E. Church, said he didn't care about the section of the federal tax code that prohibits nonprofits from engaging in political activity.
"I don't care about the 501(c)(3) law," Jordan said from the pulpit Sunday. "I'm asking you to support him."
