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December 2, 2008 8:00:55 PM CST

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Just How Blue Is Michigan?

Posted Sep 6, 08 11:14 AM CDT in Politics 

(Newser) – Michigan has gone blue in four out of the past five presidential elections, but the crucial state is anything but a lock for Barack Obama this year. The Wall Street Journal assesses a slew of factors—the state's highly charged racial politics, John McCain's good standing among GOP moderates and independents, Obama’s absence from the state primary, and his association with the disgraced mayor—and finds that the bellwether state's 17 electoral votes are very much in play.

"Michigan is a challenge for any Democratic candidate," says an Obama worker here. "Everyone thinks it's blue. But you have to work hard to make it blue." Obama holds a slim lead in recent polls and is pushing the McCain-is-Bush theme. But the Journal notes that Michigan is the original home of the so-called "Reagan Democrats," voters willing to jump to the GOP.

Source Wall Street Journal

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Joe Biden and Barack Obama wave during a rally at C.O. Brown Stadium in Battle Creek, MIch., Sunday, Aug. 31, 2008.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius speaks at a Michigan Women for Obama town hall meeting at Macomb Community College in Warren, Mich., Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2008.   (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama speaks at a town hall meeting at Troy High School in Troy, Mich., in June.   (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., center, raises his hands with former Vice President Al Gore, left, and Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm at the Joe Lewis Arena in Detroit, Monday, June 16, 2008.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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Michigan voters want a good reason to vote for McCain so they will not be perceived as racist. McCain has a lot of them. - L. Brooks Patterson,
leading Michigan Republican

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Barack Obama • Election 2008 • John McCain • race • Michigan • swing states


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