You've probably seen overlay maps of the Appalachian region during the Democratic primary, showing Hillary Clinton's domination over Barack Obama. Charles Blow takes another look in today's NYT. Pretty interesting, especially the graphic.
The takeaway: the region went heavily Republican in 2000 and 2004. Obama probably can't change that. But he might be able to defuse it by winning states on its northern edge -- Pennsylvania and Ohio -- and maybe also Virginia. Blow treats New York as part of this "northern frontier" strategy, but I think this is a crock. I can't imagine NY not going blue.
I suspect the key for Pennsylvania and Ohio will be, in large part, boosting urban voter and college student turnout. But maybe he'll be able to make some inroads among the more rural areas, through a combination of his personality, educating people about McSame, and a good choice for VP. Not enough to win, probably, but enough so that the urban and youth vote has a better chance of outweighing the white rural vote.
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