The Arkansas Project

NYT: Will Obama Play in Arkansas?

By David Kinkade - August 15, 2008 5:12 pm

OK, that's four....

Will Barack Obama bother to campaign in Arkansas? The New York Times ponders that burning question. Includes quotes from several notable Arkansans, including 87-year-old Nelda Burrow:

Ms. Burrow, a lifelong Democrat, was discomfited to learn from a recent article in The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that she is distantly related to Mr. Obama, whose maternal ancestors helped settle the Ozarks. “I don’t claim him,” she said, as she played dominoes and talked politics with a group of friends.

Ms. Burrow said she would not vote for Mr. Obama because she believed he is either a Muslim or would, if elected, rejoin Trinity United Church of Christ, the Chicago congregation that he left after a controversy over the former minister’s racial views.

Ms. Burrow’s son, Dennis, tried to convince her that Mr. Obama was not a Muslim.

“He’d have to come to my home and eat some of my purple-hull peas before I’d believe him,” Ms. Burrow said. “And my fried okra. Anyone that breaks bread with me, I’d have more confidence in him.”

So to summarize, if Barack Obama eats peas and okra with every aging Democrat in the state between now and November, he stands a strong chance at walking away with Arkansas’ six electoral votes.

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• October 4, 2008 -- Obama Camp Looks to Rally Arkansas Troops
• October 1, 2008 -- Hillary Comes to Arkansas
• September 25, 2008 -- ARG Poll: McCain Up by 12 in Arkansas