I didn’t believe it before. But I’m starting to believe it now.
Seventy-plus men walked out of the ground, overalls and hardhats covered in coal dust, and onto the risers of a stage built for a Mitt Romney speech.
To onlookers, mostly press and staffers, the image was stunning.
To the 2,600 family members gathered in the gravel parking lot or under tents, eating hot dogs and drinking pop, it was a moment of immense pride.
This is what we do, said Tim Wiles: “We make things. We provide energy for the state, food for our families, and businesses are sustained around the county because they make money from us.”
The 54-year-old miner added, after listening to Romney: “This election is his and Paul Ryan’s for the taking. They need to be bold and remind people of what we stand for, that we are the backbone of this country.”
“America still is that competitive frontier,” said Josh Kinney, 32, standing beside him.
Whoa.
Obama and the Democrats are currently counting on their on-the-ground staff, who are supposed to get more people out to vote Democrat in November than Romney can convince to vote for him.
I’m starting to think their ground campaign isn’t going to count nearly as much as I feared it was going to be. It won’t matter if Romney and Ryan can convince more people to vote for them. And they’re doing a hell of a job so far.
Maybe I’m a stupid optimist but I’ve been thinking that way since I read this back in March. The I get reminded by news like this (especially when Gallup was saying otherwise at the end of last year.)
I am trying not to be too optimistic but there seems to be evidence that many people are *at last* beginning to see through the Obama facade. It is still a long way to November, though – the conventions have not even taken place yet.