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  Politics at the Five-and-Dime
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Contributorkarin1492 
Last Editedkarin1492  Oct 07, 2008 12:55pm
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CategoryPerspective
MediaNewspaper - Washington Post
News DateTuesday, October 7, 2008 06:00:00 PM UTC0:0
DescriptionPam Fleck has just finished vacuuming and scrubbing her mobile home into potpourri perfection when her phone rings and it's her sister, Sherry. Sherry lives over in Brighton. She drives a school bus, likes to hunt and votes Republican.

"Hi," says Fleck, an assistant manager at a Dollar General store. Her mind is on the 18-wheel delivery truck she'll have to unload at work later that night. Lifting cases of bleach take its toll at the age of 55.

Sherry is on the phone talking politics, trying one more time to talk sense into her sister. Anyone who votes for Barack Obama will not be welcome in her house -- a joke, but Fleck knows exactly where her younger sister stands. She takes a sip of coffee.

"Yeah, I'm still listening," she says.

If Obama gets in, Sherry says, he will take away everyone's guns and control what roads they can and cannot drive on.

Fleck interrupts. "We are not going to be able to afford any guns to shoot or cars to drive on the roads if things don't change, Sherry, honest to God."

With no pension and sore legs from seven-hour shifts at Dollar General, Fleck is what political pollsters classify as "working-class," "blue-collar" or a "disaffected Democrat." She is white, skipped college for motherhood and considers herself a Democrat but did not vote in the last two presidential elections because both Al Gore and John Kerry left her cold.
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