10/27/00 10:10 a.m.
Blue-Collar Ticket
Bush-Cheney on Main Street.

By Kevin Holtsberry, freelance writer based in Ohio

he battle for Ohio is alive and well. The Gore camp — worried that conceding Ohio would send the wrong signal and perhaps buoyed by some recent polling — have revived their ad campaign and rededicated their GOTV activities in the Buckeye State.

While most polls show Bush with a lead (Portrait of America has Bush 48-39 and a Cleveland Plain Dealer poll had Bush 45-41) an Ohio State University poll released Wednesday had Gore up 45-43 (important caveat: the OSU poll was based on interviews taken over the past three weeks). Whatever the poll numbers, the race is heating up again. Democratic party chair David Leland says, "It's not over."

Gore's strategy seems focused on energizing and getting the base to the polls. His ads attack Bush on traditional Democrat issues: Social Security, education, and the environment. To compliment these attacks Gore and the DNC are focusing their GOTV efforts in core constituencies: urban, minority, and union households. They have hired staffers, recruited volunteers, and are planning rallies for these key groups.

The Bush team is obviously just as focused on grassroots efforts and both Bush and Cheney were in Ohio on Thursday to rally the troops. But their campaign strategy reflects a different view of the electorate.

The foundation of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Ohio is a fascinating blend of Republican issues and Main Street values: trust, responsibility, integrity, blended with tax cuts, limited government, and a strong military. A rally in suburban Columbus featuring Dick Cheney illustrated the subtle power of these themes. Cheney is no stump winder but his delivery is surprisingly effective.

Steel manufacturer Worthington Industry's warehouse served as a perfect backdrop for Cheney's blue-collar speech. As he calmly and personably explained the issues to the energetic crowd, I got the feeling that the election would come down to one simple issue: comfort level. Cheney, surrounded by blue-collar workers, seemed so genuine and at ease explaining the issues.

The issues he said were simple. Gore-Libermann wants top-down, heavy-handed government because they think the Beltway is the engine of American greatness. Bush-Cheney want lower taxes, local control, and government reform because they know that hard-working, creative, and entrepreneurial Americans are the engine of wealth. He explained their plans for the surplus in simple terms: for social security, for important programs, for tax cuts. He outlined how each issue involved trust. Trusting young people to invest for their retirement, trusting families to spend their hard-earned money, trusting state and local government to provide services in their communities.

The powerful undercurrent to all of this is that Gore would only continue the worst aspects of the last eight years. We are like you, Cheney seems to be saying, real people who will "look you in the eye and tell you the truth." This genuineness, this human connection is what gives Bush-Cheney the edge with an electorate tired of ugliness and slippery politicians.

If Gore is betting that the Democrats can rally their amalgamation of interest groups one more time, Bush-Cheney seem to be betting on the instincts of average Americans.

In twelve days we'll know who was right.