Wednesday, May 7, 2008
The Polls and the Pump
ELIZABETH CITY, N.C.
R obert Nall cursed under his breath as he drove into the Citgo station on Highway 17. He stood at the pump for 10 seconds, staring. Regular $3.59, mid-range $3.72, super $3.84.
"I don't know who to blame -- the government or the oil companies," Nall, 33, said as his dollars trickled into the tank of his two-door Hyundai. "I don't know what to believe. It's like the politicians are trying to sell something."
In the days leading up to the primaries here and in Indiana, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama have been pitching proposals to deal with gasoline prices. Clinton offered a federal gas tax "holiday" as a summer reprieve; Obama calls the three-month holiday a "gimmick" that won't fix the problem.
Nall, who recently retired from the military and works at Wal-Mart while studying applied science at the College of Albemarle, agrees with Obama. "The oil companies will probably raise prices, so it's not worth it," he said.
Even so, he voted for Clinton. "I got about as much faith in her as I do anyone else, and I like her views on health care," he said as he paid $29 for just over eight gallons of gas. "I think her experience will help us."
Nathaniel Ralph Jr., 22, stepped out of his '92 Volvo station wagon. He was already wearing an "I Voted" sticker, which he picked up after casting his ballot for Obama, whose life story appealed to the Elizabeth City State University student.
"Obama is in touch with the people. He has a young family," said Ralph, who was on his way to his work-study job on campus. "He had a single mother."
When Ralph heard Obama call the gas tax holiday "politics as usual," he agreed.
Ralph drives only three days a week to classes, and otherwise he stays close to home. He stopped by the Hop In at the Citgo station to get a soft drink but did not fill up his tank, which is down to about a quarter full. He's conserving that until Friday, when he plans to fill up.
"I'll drive into Virginia. It's cheaper there," he said.
-- Krissah Williams
Crossing Party Lines
GRANGER, Ind.
A t the Harris Township Fire Department here, Barack Obama picked up votes from some Republicans who may support him in November -- and at least one vote from one who almost certainly will not.
That would be Mark Maglioa, 48, whose vote for the senator from Illinois was purely strategic.
Maglioa said Obama has been "speaking with a "forked tongue" about his history with the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., the longtime leader of the candidate's church, Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ.
"For 20 years, he was an inspired member of that church, and then the dirty laundry got pulled out on the clothesline, " said Maglioa, who was unimpressed when Obama broke with Wright last week, after denouncing as "rants" a series of Wright statements about the AIDS virus, U.S. foreign policy and the wisdom of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
So, why did Maglioa voted for Obama?
As a supporter of Republican John McCain, Maglioa aimed to help the senator from Arizona by boosting the Democrat he considers the weakest potential November opponent.
"Barack Hussein Obama," Maglioa said, using the middle name that Obama does not use professionally. Of Hillary Clinton, he said with grudging admiration, "I just feel like she won't fold under pressure."
Anne Watson, 30, typically votes Republican but saw no point this time, now that McCain has wrapped up the nomination.
It was important to her that the November ballot have what she called "the right Democrat, somebody who has my values and morals," she said. "After a lot of thought, I decided on Obama."
She does not yet know whom she would choose in November, but she likes Obama's decision not to take campaign contributions from political action committees. "He makes up his own mind," Watson said.
-- Peter Slevin
After the Speech
SOUTH BEND, Ind.
T he West Side Democratic Club is officially agnostic in the Democratic race. Bill Clinton led a recent rally here for his wife. But the room was rocking tonight, and it rocked for Barack.
At an event billed as an unlikely joint celebration for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the Obama fans had the Clinton crowd outnumbered. Even as the statewide race remained close, the room thundered when word came that Obama had won St. Joseph County, where two strong organizations went head to head for weeks.
"O-bam-a! O-bam-a!"
When Obama appeared on the television screen, declaring victory in North Carolina, the 200 Obama partisans erupted again in cheers and applause. "Yes, we can!" "Yes, we can!"
Standing in a clutch for solidarity, half a dozen women in white Hillary T-shirts ("Strength -- Vision -- Courage") kept their hands at their sides, silently trying to summon a miracle finish. Speech over, they pushed outdoors into the night air.
"At this point, I'm still for Hillary," said Chris Lim of South Bend. "I always have been for Hillary, and I always will be."
Across the way, her friend Pam Peck seemed to be looking ahead. "I'm voting for the Democrat," Peck said. "Whoever gets it, that's who I'm voting for."
-- Peter Slevin
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