On my way to work, I drive twelve miles along country roads in the southern Shenandoah Valley. Many of the farms have political signs up. Besides McCain-Palin vs Obama-Biden, we are also deciding which former governor, Mark Warner (D) or Jim Gilmore (R), should replace retiring Senator John Warner (R), and whether to reelect 8-term Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R) or replace him with 27-year-old newcomer Sam Rasoul (D). Warner and especially Goodlatte are apparently heavy favorites: it's been eight years since the Democrats nominated someone to oppose Goodlatte.
Today I counted the signs on the way to work. What's interesting is not so much the number for each party as their distribution.
For the Republicans, I counted eight McCain-Palin signs, three McCain signs, one of which was huge, along with one for Gilmore and three for Goodlatte. Republicans -- or at least the farmers among them -- seem to be much more enthusiastic about the presidential race, though that may be partly because Gilmore has very little chance of winning, and Goodlatte very little chance of losing. (At least so I'm told: I've only lived here two months.)
For the Democrats, I counted three straight-ticket Obama-Warner-Rasoul signs with checkmarks by each name, two huge and brightly-colored Warner-Rasoul signs, one fair-sized Warner sign, and only one small Obama-Biden sign looking quite forlorn -- it was in an empty field while most of the rest were in front yards. In short, there seems to be a lot more enthusiasm for the congressional candidates than for Obama. It's hard to attribute that to racism or hostility to supposed Muslims, since there's quite a bit of rural support for Sam Rasoul, an actual Muslim and "the son of immigrants . . . from the Palestinian territories". I suspect that the difference is that his red-white-and-blue-themed website also mentions his "commitment to the American Dream", that he is a small business owner, a "fiscal conservative", and so on, and that he plans to take the oath of office on neither a Bible nor a Qu'ran, but the U.S. Constitution.
Should Obama be a bit more worried about Virginia? I suppose that depends on how representative the Shenandoah Valley farmer vote is. I see plenty of Obama signs in town, though even there the ratio of Warner-Rasoul signs to Obama signs (Biden is nearly invisible) seems much higher than the ratio of Gilmore and Goodlatte signs to McCain-Palin signs. I suspect that there will be quite a bit of ticket-splitting in the area.
Update (10/6, 10:55am):
If anyone is wondering, here is what the farms in the area I checked are growing or breeding: 1. cows, 2. hay, 3. horses, 4. corn, 5. goats, 6. sheep.
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I noticed a similar phenomenon driving through Central Virginia (Alexandria to Lynchburg). Lots of McCain signs, lots of Warner signs, lots of Goodlatte or Goode (depending where I was). The rare Obama signs were concentrated in Nelson County, and were mostly small (the large ones were handmade). Gilmore hasn't a prayer - only a small number of small signs, and Warner was everywhere. I even saw an SUV with Warner and McCain stickers.
I live just west of the Shenandoah Valley and can tell you that the dearth of OBAMA signs has more to do with the fact that the Democratic headquarters have run completely OUT than that folks don't want them. I have been to three different headquarters within a 60 mile radius of my farm, and none of them had any signs. So, yes, my OBAMA sign is small and home made, but the sentiment is the same.
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