- Senator Jim Webb, D-Virginia, to Barack Obama’s face last week

“If drafted, I will not run; nominated, I will not accept; and if elected, I will not serve.  So, I don’t know how more crystal clear I can be.”

     - Governor Ted Strickland, D-Ohio, on NPR

Strickland, Rendell and Webb have all rejected being Obama’s number two. He’s lost his best possible choices after signaling that he rejects his best choice–Hillary. Maybe he doesn’t want or need a vice presidential running mate, just a backup singer for his rock star concert at Invesco Field.

Of Note: Ed Rendell has been similarly clear, although he’s willing to accept a cabinet appointment after he’s completed his term as governor of Pennsylvania.

It’s worth reading what the Los Angeles Times reports why Jim Webb would be such a strong choice:

A Virginia Democrat elected in 2006, Webb was considered attractive as a potential vice presidential nominee because his resume is strong where Obama’s is weak: on national security issues. Webb served as secretary of the Navy under President Reagan and is a decorated former Marine. He also carries the added appeal of coming from a Southern state that Obama hopes to contest.

Jim Webb is an honorable person and has promised to campaign if Obama is the nominee.

Oh well.

There’s always Bill Richardson, who appears to be willing to do most anything to get himself on the ticket.

Racial attitudes pose challenge for Obama

“I don’t think our country is ready for a black president,” Susick, who is white, said in an interview in the paint store where she works. “A black man is never going to win Pennsylvania.”

Now if we were in campaign mode you would see Axelrod, Plouffe or Jackson point out that the person making the comment was just a racist and therefore could be dismissed. But thankfully we aren’t in campaign mode and people like Susick are allowed to speak their mind without being labeled as something they are not.

More troubling is the statistic that won’t go away. No matter how much money and bullshit the Obama people try to throw at it.

In the April 22 primary, Susick voted for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who carried Pennsylvania by 10 percentage points. Perhaps more troubling for Obama, one in four Clinton’s backers told exit pollsters they would vote for McCain if Obama were the nominee; an additional 17 percent said they would not vote at all.

Look at this closely. 25% of Hillary supporters said they would vote for McCain and another 17% said they wouldn’t vote at all. That is a whopping 42% of Hillary supporters that WILL NOT support Obama. You might call that a significant statistic.

More worrisome are longtime Democrats who backed Clinton in April but are threatening to abandon the party now that she is not the nominee.

Rose Iezzi, who lunched recently with two friends at a Greensburg cafe, is one. All three women are middle-aged, work for an accountant and admire Clinton. But only Iezzi took a hard stand against Obama.

“I think he’s a snake oil salesman,” she said. “He’s a little too slick and smooth.”

“He just doesn’t appeal to me, and not because of race, definitely,” she said in an interview in which race had not been mentioned.

In fact for all the attempts to call the people that will not support Obama racists, the facts tell another tale. A tale that doesn’t fit in to well with the lies the Obama camp would have you believe. Despite the exit poll claims we were spoon fed by the Obamedia, the truth tells us something else entirely.

In interviews with 40 Pennsylvanians across three counties that Clinton won by big margins, only one person indicated opposition to Obama simply because of his race.

Sounds a little less troubling than we were initially led to believe. Some estimates had the percentage as high as 20%. So much for the reliability of exit polls despite the DNC’s illegitimate reliance on them.

And if this was just Pennsylvania perhaps Obama and the DNC could write it off. As they have so many other things. But the problems in Pennsylvania apparently also resonate in Ohio where Obama not only lost to Hillary but is losing ground to McCain.

Clinton’s supporters still wary of Obama

Harper was impressed by Clinton’s empathy for the struggling middle class and said she would have voted for her this fall. But now that Barack Obama has sewn up the Democratic nomination, Harper isn’t sure whom to support.

Obama’s comments about “bitter” Pennsylvania voters turning to guns and God turned her off, and she’s concerned that Republican John McCain represents a continuation of the Bush administration that she doesn’t think the country can afford.

“Now, I’m kind of in limbo,” Harper, 53, said last week during an interview in Hanging Rock at the Ohio University Southern Child Development Center where she works.

So Bittergate still resonates in Ohio as I am sure it resonates elsewhere. People have not only not forgiven Obama for his comments, they have come to trust him even less recently.

Last week, The Dispatch retraced Clinton’s trip, and in interviews with nearly three dozen people in places she visited, it was clear that although Obama has fans in the region, he has work to do to win over voters such as Harper.

There is a disconnect that Ohio voters instinctively feel toward Obama. Hillary they got. She touched them, made them feel visible, important. Obama, not so much.

“It was like we meant something to her,” said Chuck Denney, 55, of Gallipolis, who works at a nearby power plant and was having lunch last week at the original Bob Evans restaurant in Rio Grande where Hillary Clinton stopped in February.

But the Obama campaign and their DNC enablers aren’t worrying about Ohio. They have a plan. They honestly think that getting popular governor Ted Strickland to campaign for Obama is all he needs. And Strickland seems to think so too.

The governor said Friday he will encourage Obama to spend time in Appalachia and focus on such “kitchen table issues” as jobs and health care.

“I think if he does that and does it effectively, with my help — and I will help — that the folks in the communities that you’ve just visited will give him an honest hearing,” Strickland said.

But Buckeyes have to ask the pertinent question. Why is it that Obama didn’t reach out to Appalachia before, when he was courting Ohio for the nomination? He instead referred to them as bitter white people that cling to guns and religion.

So, sorry Governor Strickland. As popular as you are and deservedly so, you aren’t going to hoodwink the good people of Ohio into believing Barack Obama suddenly respects hard-working blue collar white people. Because we already know that he does not. Except for when not respecting them gets in his way to power.

These latest revelations, coming just days after Obama’s presumptive coronation as the Democratic nominee, are mere warning shots. More will come, surely. I expect them to dribble out a little at a time. The question is: Will the people that have the authority to do something about it take action before it is too late?

And I can’t say with any sincerity that I am hopeful they will.

Racial attitudes pose challenge for Obama

“I don’t think our country is ready for a black president,” Susick, who is white, said in an interview in the paint store where she works. “A black man is never going to win Pennsylvania.”

Now if we were in campaign mode you would see Axelrod, Plouffe or Jackson point out that the person making the comment was just a racist and therefore could be dismissed. But thankfully we aren’t in campaign mode and people like Susick are allowed to speak their mind without being labeled as something they are not.

More troubling is the statistic that won’t go away. No matter how much money and bullshit the Obama people try to throw at it.

In the April 22 primary, Susick voted for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who carried Pennsylvania by 10 percentage points. Perhaps more troubling for Obama, one in four Clinton’s backers told exit pollsters they would vote for McCain if Obama were the nominee; an additional 17 percent said they would not vote at all.

Look at this closely. 25% of Hillary supporters said they would vote for McCain and another 17% said they wouldn’t vote at all. That is a whopping 42% of Hillary supporters that WILL NOT support Obama. You might call that a significant statistic.

More worrisome are longtime Democrats who backed Clinton in April but are threatening to abandon the party now that she is not the nominee.

Rose Iezzi, who lunched recently with two friends at a Greensburg cafe, is one. All three women are middle-aged, work for an accountant and admire Clinton. But only Iezzi took a hard stand against Obama.

“I think he’s a snake oil salesman,” she said. “He’s a little too slick and smooth.”

“He just doesn’t appeal to me, and not because of race, definitely,” she said in an interview in which race had not been mentioned.

In fact for all the attempts to call the people that will not support Obama racists, the facts tell another tale. A tale that doesn’t fit in to well with the lies the Obama camp would have you believe. Despite the exit poll claims we were spoon fed by the Obamedia, the truth tells us something else entirely.

In interviews with 40 Pennsylvanians across three counties that Clinton won by big margins, only one person indicated opposition to Obama simply because of his race.

Sounds a little less troubling than we were initially led to believe. Some estimates had the percentage as high as 20%. So much for the reliability of exit polls despite the DNC’s illegitimate reliance on them.

And if this was just Pennsylvania perhaps Obama and the DNC could write it off. As they have so many other things. But the problems in Pennsylvania apparently also resonate in Ohio where Obama not only lost to Hillary but is losing ground to McCain.

Clinton’s supporters still wary of Obama

Harper was impressed by Clinton’s empathy for the struggling middle class and said she would have voted for her this fall. But now that Barack Obama has sewn up the Democratic nomination, Harper isn’t sure whom to support.

Obama’s comments about “bitter” Pennsylvania voters turning to guns and God turned her off, and she’s concerned that Republican John McCain represents a continuation of the Bush administration that she doesn’t think the country can afford.

“Now, I’m kind of in limbo,” Harper, 53, said last week during an interview in Hanging Rock at the Ohio University Southern Child Development Center where she works.

So Bittergate still resonates in Ohio as I am sure it resonates elsewhere. People have not only not forgiven Obama for his comments, they have come to trust him even less recently.

Last week, The Dispatch retraced Clinton’s trip, and in interviews with nearly three dozen people in places she visited, it was clear that although Obama has fans in the region, he has work to do to win over voters such as Harper.

There is a disconnect that Ohio voters instinctively feel toward Obama. Hillary they got. She touched them, made them feel visible, important. Obama, not so much.

“It was like we meant something to her,” said Chuck Denney, 55, of Gallipolis, who works at a nearby power plant and was having lunch last week at the original Bob Evans restaurant in Rio Grande where Hillary Clinton stopped in February.

But the Obama campaign and their DNC enablers aren’t worrying about Ohio. They have a plan. They honestly think that getting popular governor Ted Strickland to campaign for Obama is all he needs. And Strickland seems to think so too.

The governor said Friday he will encourage Obama to spend time in Appalachia and focus on such “kitchen table issues” as jobs and health care.

“I think if he does that and does it effectively, with my help — and I will help — that the folks in the communities that you’ve just visited will give him an honest hearing,” Strickland said.

But Buckeyes have to ask the pertinent question. Why is it that Obama didn’t reach out to Appalachia before, when he was courting Ohio for the nomination? He instead referred to them as bitter white people that cling to guns and religion.

So, sorry Governor Strickland. As popular as you are and deservedly so, you aren’t going to hoodwink the good people of Ohio into believing Barack Obama suddenly respects hard-working blue collar white people. Because we already know that he does not. Except for when not respecting them gets in his way to power.

These latest revelations, coming just days after Obama’s presumptive coronation as the Democratic nominee, are mere warning shots. More will come, surely. I expect them to dribble out a little at a time. The question is: Will the people that have the authority to do something about it take action before it is too late?

And I can’t say with any sincerity that I am hopeful they will.