Well..pretty scary predictions. Oh ok, not really scary, but it did raise an eyebrow or two.  If Ohio was the land of Reagan Democrats, this could have spelled trouble for the Democratic Party in the November General Election.  Last, but not least, any discontent could have opened the door to electoral shenanigans.  In the 2004 election, Bush had won the Buckeye State by a slim margin, amidst reports of voting irregularities.  To this day, I wish Kerry didn't concede that state to 'W'.  

Fast forward to today, er wait last weekend, during that whole Unity day thingamajig with Senators Clinton and Obama.  The Financial Times reported that while the Democratic dynamic duo were doing their thing to bring the party together, the member of the Lord Voldemort Appreciation Society (AKA the Republicans) were doing what they do best, try and ruin things.  Ambling in on that mislabeled "Straight Talk Express", McCain talked to a group of GM workers hoping to expand a perceived divide between this faction of Democratic voters.

McCain figures that there is a sea of disappointment that Hillary didn't win, or perhaps that Edwards didn't have a second chance either.  We all saw the news reports of groups of females or some union folks who either supported either Clinton or Edwards in the primaries, saying they won't vote for Barack.  And McCain and company have been trying to woo Hillary voters, making gestures like speaking out on helping the famed New York senator with her campaign debt.  But alas, if the FT is telling the truth (and they probably are), his little haunt in Ohio may leave the Grand Old Prostate in a disappointment.

Three hours after John McCain's campaign bus left General Motors' plant in Lordstown, Ohio, workers started streaming in and out of the factory's gates for the mid-afternoon shift change.

Only a fraction had caught a glimpse of the Republican presidential candidate when he toured the production line and still fewer attended the meeting he held in an adjacent conference room. "Management invited him," said 38-year-old Tim Niles. "It had nothing to do with us. We're with Obama."

Mr Niles, a white, working-class Democrat who wears a "Bubba's Army" T-shirt, is exactly the kind of voter Mr McCain was courting on his trip to northern Ohio on Friday. On the day Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton staged their first joint rally, Mr McCain was trying to undermine their reconciliation by wooing Mrs Clinton's blue-collar base.

His efforts appeared wasted on many. "We're a working-class factory," said 49-year-old Greg George. "McCain calls himself moderate, but his party has been a disaster for working people over the past eight years."

- excerpt from "Workers reject McCain overture", FT.com, 2008

Of course, this doesn't mean that McCain's chances with this group is totally unatainable.  As the Financial Times article noted, a significant number polled didn't exactly endorse Obama at the moment.  And it is estimated that a quarter of Clinton's supporters in the state have said they would vote for John Airbus McCain.

Given all this, we have several months until that fateful political day.  A lot can happen.  A lot can change.  Things could go well for us or it could go worse for us.  I'm hoping, that when the debates come, that many of these good blue-collar folk who are either on the fence still or right now supporting The Man Who Ate Cake While Katrina drowned, will come back home to the Democratic Party.  The Republican Party in reality offers these hard working group nothing but empty promises.  Sure you could say that about all politicians.  But really, when it comes down to it, for the working mother and father, which candidate is more akin to watching your back against the forces of globalization?