Obama and rural Iowa: signs of weakness?

Though Illinois Sen. Barack Obama won the Democratic caucuses in Iowa, one of the more rural states, he showed a relative lack of strength among rural voters, posing a challenge for him, Iowa expert Jeff Zeleny writes in The New York Times.

A detailed map of the caucus results suggests that Mr. Obama's argument was not convincing to Democrats in many rural stretches of the state," writes Zeleny, a former reporter for Iowa newspapers. "Had he not won in Iowa’s largest three counties, in addition to a strong showing along the Mississippi River in the east, the outcome would almost certainly have been different. Over the last year, Mr. Obama’s reception in rural Iowa counties seemed to steadily improve, judging by listening to more enthusiastic applause from his audiences. At many stops, though, he would face questions from conservative Democrats about gun control and immigration, and his answers did not always meet the approval of voters."

But Obama did get many rural votes, at least one from a man who was turned off by what may have been racial or ethnic prejudice against him, Zeleny reports. He quotes an e-mail from a woman in a rural area whose husband was originally for Hillary Clinton: "He changed before the count as he heard people stating they could not vote for someone with a last name like Obama," and "heard not one negative bit of talk" in the Obama preference group at the caucus. (Read more)