Giuliani, Romney lack rural platforms, records; are they relying on social issues for the rural vote?

The two leading Republican candidates for president, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, have little if anything to say about rural issues, writes Bill Bishop, co-editor of the Daily Yonder, the new rural-news sit with a political bent. And he wonders why.

“When you look for ‘rural’ or ‘farm’ at either the Giuliani or Romney websites, there’s very little,” Bishop writes. “When you search back issues of newspapers for what these leaders have said about crop supports, rural housing or small schools, you don’t find much. Well, really, you don’t find a thing. Neither candidate has an ‘issues’ section dedicated to rural America. Neither candidate has a history of working on rural problems.”

Bishop says one reason may be that the candidates believe Republican voters are not as responsive to rural issues as they are to social issues, gay marriage being the latest and hottest example. He says political scientist Peter Francia of East Carolina University “controlled for every other demographic factor (age, race, income),” and found that rural voters' support for George W. Bush was 10 percentage points above the rest of the nation, and the most important factor in how they voted in was gay marriage.

“Of course, 2004 isn’t 2007 or 2008. But it may be that leading Republican candidates are pretending as if it is (and will be),” Bishop writes. “No wonder Republican candidates mention rural less often in their debates. Maybe they figure that opposition to gay marriage is a rural platform.” (Read more) For the Yonder's early take on former Sen. Fred Thompson, who's doing well in polls but has not declared his candidacy, click here.