Financial Crisis? What Financial Crisis?

Paul Helmke would like to think it was their message, rather than the financial crisis, which delivered the election to Obama.  SayUncle points out that it’s hooey.  What killed us this election was exceptionally bad Republican turnout.  We did a lot of hard get out the vote work in my district, which paid off.  My county only bled 3000 or so votes from 2004.  Pennsylvania is a difficult state for gun rights activists.  Many of our gun owners are also union members, and can’t always be counted on to vote like gun owners.  When economic times get rough, they run for the big “D”.  It’s worthwhile to point out that McCain was ahead in Pennsylvania before the financial crisis hit.  I recall conversations with a few gun owners after the crisis that went, “Well, I have a choice between my guns and putting food on the table.  I just don’t think we can afford another 8 years of failed economic policy.”  Of course, if you have your guns, you can always put food on the table, but it’s hard to convince people worried about jobs and mortgages to vote their gun rights.  People tend to vote their pocketbooks before all.

Sportsmen voted along the same lines for McCain that they did for Bush, but fewer of them turned out.  I think there were a lot more of those guys than my interactions with gun owners was indicative of.  A lot of unhappy gun owners voted with their butts, in that they spent election day sitting on it.  I can’t blame the Brady Campaign for trying to ride Obama’s coattails.  Maybe it’ll help their fundraising.  We’ll see how the next two years goes for them, but my prediction is that things will not go as well for them as they wish, nor as bad for them as we would like.  It’s going to be rough, either way.