Reflections of a stormy petrel

Speakling as a local, I don't think it is an urban academic/rural working class split. Both Clinton and Obama are faking it when it comes to the working class. Hillary has a better team to make her connect with the "red states" but at her core she'll say whatever it takes to get her goal accomplished. She was a Cubs fan who switched to the Yankees to get elected to Pat Moynihan's seat when he retired. (It was her parting gift from a greatful Democratic Party in exchange for her pride.) Obama hasn't lived long enough to make as many public choices, like distancing himself from his pastor's hate-speach, but in the end he and she are both lawyers - they know how to negotiate away their convictions for the greater good. Democrats have not fielded a non-lawyer in decades. Some have more integrity than others. Some have a vision and plan they're willing to sacrifice their intergity for. Of the three choices, two have crashed and burned before in front of everyone (multiple times) and recovered. The choice is between the shiney new unblemished model or the old beaters who are still running.