"Economic Choices 2008" - Where The Men Are
Tuesday, March 04, 2008SUSIE GHARIB: Voters headed to the polls in four states today, with the biggest primary prizes coming in Texas and Ohio. Last night, we explored the views of working class women in the Ohio presidential primary. Tonight, the men get their turn. The conventional wisdom is the votes of white working class men are up for grabs. As we continue our series, "Economic Choices '08", Darren Gersh looks at how Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain are playing to this key group of voters in one small metal shop outside of Cleveland.
DARREN GERSH, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Most of the time, the talk here at Inovent Engineering is all about the Cleveland Browns or the Indians or the Cavaliers. But if you ask Trevor Bascombe about the election, he talks about a kind of national political gut check.
TREVOR BASCOMBE, MACHINIST, INOVENT ENGINEERING: You know when they say, well, black man running for president, I was like, well, I don't know if the country is going to accept that or not. Me, personally, I don't mind either way. I just think I want somebody that's going to take care of America right now.
GERSH: If you ask Ron Geewax, he's for John McCain all the way. He prefers the Vietnam War hero who has been tested to Barack Obama who, he says, hasn't been. Even so, Geewax believes this election will change the stereotype that men prefer to vote for men like them.
RON GEEWAX, MACHINIST, INOVENT ENGINEERING: This campaign, I think, has opened a lot of people's eyes that you don't just vote that way. I think they're going to be surprised that a lot of white men are going to vote for either Hillary or Obama and I'm saying this -- I probably would have, if John McCain wasn't the representative of the Republican Party.
GERSH: Inovent Engineering is a good example of the kind of small, specialized shops that are increasingly common here in northeast Ohio and across the rest of American manufacturing. The men who work here altogether, have spent over 90 years making and designing machine tools. They value experience and they're looking for it in a presidential candidate. Trevor Bascombe liked and supported Bill Clinton and he voted for Hillary Clinton today. Barack Obama he says, is just too green.
BASCOMBE: He's like a rookie quarterback, you know. The guy could be great, but how do you know until he's actually in the game and playing?
GERSH: Inovent's owner Brian Fenn will tell you his wife likes Obama but, even though he's a Republican, he's keeping his options open for November.
BRIAN FENN, PRESIDENT, INOVENT ENGINEERING: As we get closer to the election, we can find out, see who cracks, who does it a little bit better under more of the pressure.
GERSH: Both Ron Geewax and Trevor Bascombe have suffered through layoffs and it colors their views. At the Center for Working Class Studies, John Russo says working men are being asked to do something very difficult in this election -- suspend their disbelief.
JOHN RUSSO, CO-DIRECTOR, CTR FOR WORKING CLASS STUDIES, YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIV.: They don't believe in politicians. They don't believe in government. They don't believe in corporations. They don't believe in unions. They don't believe in religious organizations.
GERSH: These men don't put much stock in politics, because, whatever the economists might say, they say they've seen trade deals in action -- jobs that were once done in Ohio are now gone.
BASCOMBE: Now, I think they are going to Mexico and they are getting right on a boat and they're going right to China, so I think that has a big part in peoples' minds. They want to get things back to being American.
GERSH: Bascombe told us something we've heard from many other men on the campaign trail. His teenage daughter likes Obama, but winning the more- experienced father's vote, that's a harder sell. Darren Gersh, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Solon, Ohio.
