Kyle Bell

I’m just now looking at election results from last week’s Michigan primary. The Democratic side was only a symbolic vote, as the state was stripped (along with Florida) of all of its delegates due to their moving up the primary past February 5, which broke party rules for all states except Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. Well, Hillary Clinton was the only major candidate on the ballot. “Uncommitted” was her main opponent as both Barack Obama and John Edwards were not on the ballot. The statewide total was:

Hillary Clinton – 55%

Uncommitted – 40%

In other words, without any serious opponent, Hillary only won the state of Michigan by 15%. That was stunning to me. But even more stunning were the numbers within. She actually managed to lose to “Uncommitted” in Washtenaw County, home to Ann Arbor. The county has a black population of 12%, compared to a white population of 77%. Women and men both make up 50% of the population. Washtenaw County is one of the few counties in Michigan with decent growth, averaging nearly 7% population increase since 2000, compared to only 1.6% statewide. Nearly 50% are college educated, and over 90% graduated from high school, compared to 22% and 83% statewide.

The question becomes: how many Washtenaw County’s are there in America? Rather, what major cities reflect Ann Arbor in a way that could help Obama? Plenty in the Midwest, where Obama is likely to do best. Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati, Ohio; Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota; Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin; Columbia, Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri; Iowa City, Ames and Cedar Falls, Iowa, where Obama already won. And if the primaries drag on long enough, Bloomington, South Bend, Lafayette, and Indianapolis, Indiana.