What have candidates said to rural voters?

Rural residents are important voting blocs in many states, and candidates have a wiode range of appeals to rural voters, to-wit:

Strickland counts on his rural roots, Columbus Dispatch, current Democratic Ohio Governor Ted Strickland is running against  Republican challenger John Kasich. Strickland said about his rural base that in previous elections he carried by 70 percent: "We've been living through very significant economic disruption and upheaval and so, no, I don't expect to win this area with 70 percent, but I expect to win it."

Following the footsteps of Walkin' Lawton. The St. Petersburg Times covers Democrat Alex Sink, running against Republican Rick Scott for governor in rural northern Florida: "I grew up on a tobacco farm. Tobacco, cows, hogs — whatever my daddy could make money at. Year by year, it was a big decision."

Congress and governor candidates quizzed on rural issues: The Anchorage Daily News polled candidates for congress and governor on a variety of topics. The question posed on rural issues: "Rural Alaska communities continue to be hit by very high rates of unemployment, suicide, abuse and neglect. Is there anything you would do to address these issues? What specifically?" Each candidate responded.

Chris Dudley visits rural Oregon as Kitzhaber prepares for Obama visit: The Oregonian reports Republican Chris Dudley is running against Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber. "Dudley may be reaching thousands of voters in Oregon's cities through his campaign commercials, but the candidate himself is spending much of his time lately in rural communities. ... At various stops, Dudley often notes that his wife is a fifth-generation Oregonian and his children attend public schools."

When in doubt, blame Harry Reid: The Los Angeles Times covers the Senate Democratic leader from Nevada running against Republican Sharron Angle. "In rural Nevada, the political is personal," said Bob Dolezal, superintendent of the White Pine County School District, who demurred as to which Senate candidate he supported. "People internalize things. It's not a disagreement of opinion, it's a personal affront."

Democrat recalls roots in appeal to rural North Carolina: Elaine Marshall, Democratic candidate for the Senate against  Republican Sen. Richard Burr, tells The Associated Press: "I knew what it was like to feel like a second-class citizen because of where I lived," she says of her rural Maryland upbringing. "As your North Carolina senator, I will remember where I came from."

Haley courts voters in rural South Carolina: Republican gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley is running against Vincent Sheheen, a Democrat. From The Post and Courier of Charleston: "Haley's been making the rounds in Hartsville. She's been here somewhere between five and a dozen times, more than any gubernatorial candidate in the past 100 years, the hometown Republican state Rep. Jay Lucas declared."

Scrapple? Candidates Christine O'Donnell and Chris Coons love the "delicacy," The Christian Science Monitor reports in a story on Republican Christine O'Donnell and Democrat Chris Coons. "At the 19th annual Apple Scrapple Festival in rural Delaware, U.S. Senate candidates Chris Coons and Christine O'Donnell worked the crowd of potential voters. And – surprise! – they both claim to love scrapple. ... For the uninitiated, scrapple is a Pennsylvania Dutch delicacy made of hog byproducts (snout, heart, liver), corn meal, flour, and spices, mixed into a mush and formed into loaves, then sliced off and fried."

In Maryland, rural residents feel pinched and perplexed, The Washington Post reports after visiting a Republican enclave in a heavily Democratic area: "Damascus is different. Thanks to geographic realities and political deal making, Republicans outnumber Democrats within a set of jury-rigged boundaries on Montgomery's northern edge. Out of the county's nearly 1 million residents, 5,809 Republican voters living here amid the soybean and corn fields lucked into having a member of Congress from their own party. "It's a red corner, for which I'm very thankful," said Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett, a nine-term Republican whose 6th District rambles from south of Pittsburgh to east of Baltimore and includes a thumb-shaped bit of territory in Montgomery. While the county "may be predominantly blue," Bartlett said, "that doesn't mean there aren't a lot of red people there."