I live a couple hours south of the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex. On clear nights, that glow on the northern horison is, in fact, the Metroplex. Dallas is slowly turning blue, but Cowtown still kicks shit off it's boots at the end of the day.
My hometown is extremely (very very) conservative and very Baptist. How conservative and Baptist, you ask? I live in a dry county because the Baptists control the city council. I couldn't care less about whether or not the county is dry or wet, but the peeps in charge focus on this one issue so they don't have to admit we have bigger problems. As long as the demon rum is kept out, everything is hunky dory.
So, one would think that this area would be on fire for McCain and Palin. Oddly enough, that does not seem to be the case. As far as this area is concerned, there is no presidential election.
If I toddle into town, which I try to avoid, I see two signs for McCain/Palin on the Loop, which is the main thoroughfair and prime advertising ground for just about anything you want to advertise. I see a rather odd* sign for one of the local Baptist churches and a whole forest of political signs for local and state level elections. Two signs for McCain/Palin, one on either end of the Loop. Two and they aren't even big ones.
Perhaps if I went through some of the neighborhoods I would find a hotbed of McCain/Palin support, but it's obviously a hidden hotbed, afraid to be too obvious or simply bored and unwilling to put in the effort needed to plonk a stake into the ground where folks can see it as they zoom along goggling at the rapidly dropping gas prices.
If someone were to arrive from out of town and was somehow unaware we were in the middle of a rather contentious presidential election, well the signage would leave them in that happy state of ignorance. They would know about the state level elections and the city council race, but would probably ask themselves, 'Who?' when they hear 'McCain' (or Obama for that matter. I've yet to see an Obama sign, not surprisingly.)
I went into Fort Worth today and rather expected a few more signs, but alas and alack, no such luck. I saw two billboards and neither of them mentioned McCain by name. (Sorry no pics, I wasn't about to stop in the middle of the interstate - risking life and limb - to snap pics.)
One, near Benbrook, simply said 'Keep Texas Red, Vote Republican'. No mention of McCain, just a fairly generic billboard. It might well have been talking about some local race I am unaware of and I just read my own prejudices into it.
The other amused me when I first read it and on further thought, rather pissed me off. It was on I-20 near Weatherford going towards Fort Worth.
"There is only one god-fearing, America loving patriot running for president this year."
It amused me at first since it didn't actually name any names, which struck me as rather shifty and cowardly. The more I thought about it - between hoping that semi-truck would make up it's mind about which lane it wanted to be in - the more angry I became.
I dislike with rather violent passion the 'conventional wisdom' that because I am a non-believer, a pacifist and can actually make decisions not based on group-think, I hate America. In fact, I love my country, but that doesn't mean I am blinded to our flaws and it doesn't mean I immediately absolve us of the consequences of some of the more dipshitted decisions this administration and other administrations have made. Patriotism doesn't mean I'm blind.
(Sidenote. I've never understood why 'fear' is a good thing when it comes to one's deity.)
Aside from the lack of signs, I have also noticed a lack of bumper stickers. I've actually seen more old, faded Bush'04 stickers than I have McCain or Obama stickers. I did see an amusing pair the other day at the bookstore, though.
On the window behind the driver seat of this pick-up, a McCain/Palin sticker...turned upside down. Behind the passenger seat, an Obama/Biden sticker, also turned upside down. I'm sure there was some deep meaning to that, or the driver wanted me to think there was and was standing nearby laughing as I scratched my head, but I don't know what it was.
None of this really means much, of course. Despite little pockets of blue around Austin and Dallas, Texas will go red this November, but it will be a rather half-hearted and uninspired red. A Democrat with some extra time and enthusiasm (and a really thick skin) might make some inroads, though. It's worth thinking about.
*How odd, you ask? It was a black billboard with white letters reading 'I hate Harvey Baptist Church' and it was signed 'Satan'. Even by the standards of this town, that is rather odd.