Boston Globe: In Ohio, Clinton counts on the 'economy' voters

By Susan Milligan
Globe Staff / February 23, 2008

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - For Tom Buffenbarger, the choice in the Democratic primary is simple: a man with a dream and a woman with a plan. And to him, Barack Obama's lofty vision doesn't answer the nuts-and-bolts questions working-class America has for its next president.

"What do you want? The editor of the Harvard Law Review or a fighter for working families?" Buffenbarger, president of the International Association of Machinists, bellowed at an Ohio rally for Clinton on Tuesday night, just after Obama was declared the winner of the Wisconsin primary.

At campaign events, Buffenbarger said, Obama "cocks his head and lifts his nose up" as he talks about changing the tone of American politics. "Hope? Change? 'Yes, we can?' Give me a break!" the union leader mocked, drawing boisterous hoots from the crowd.

They are Clinton's firewall: the working-class voters who say they don't want to hear fancy words about changing Washington; they want to know exactly how the next president is going to bring jobs to their struggling communities and make sure their children have healthcare.