You really have to live here for a few years to understand the unique landscape of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Beginning with the rich history. The first capitol of the United States of America was here. The first railroads... and from New Jersey to Ohio, small historic towns along the rivers and original railroad tracks, many dating back to the 18th century.
It's a place where Wal-Mart co-exists with Main Street, instead of putting it out of business.
Entire unique civilizations live within civilizations, for the most part, peacefully, side by side.
Where small modest living quarters are right next door to large houses.. and just down the street, a family that doesn't worry about employment because they're living off the land, as they have been for generations.
It's obvious to those that move here from more populated areas, as I did a little over 12 years ago, that if there one thing Pennsylvanians treasure, it's their personal freedom. A huge, but quiet population of Libertarians are here. While most are more than willing to pay their fair share, they don't want anyone telling them what they can, or cannot do on their own land.
Like anywhere else, it's a state of three demographics (I suppose now, more accurately, four). Cities, Suburbs, Extended Rural Suburbs, and Rural areas. The farmers continue to work the land and are not be paid or subsidized by the government. They wake up early and work hard. Many are still family farms, not acquired by large corporations, and they take exceptional pride in what they do.
Certainly each part of our nation has it's own unique identity, but as April 22nd gets closer, it will be no more apparent than right here, that Earth Day is the same day as the Primary. Pennsylvanians love 'their' earth. Their property. The places they fought for, their family members fought for, here and overseas, and managed to keep, for literally hundreds of years.
The fact is, in my opinion, that the national or even regional 'rules of politics' don't work here. The polls are, for lack of a better way of putting it, useless.
Promising the people what they want to hear won't work either.
It's my guess that a large majority of Pennsylvanians want one thing. A simple return to the Constitution. A strong perception by a silent majority of that the two party system isn't working here. The 'other' parties - Constitution, Green, Independent, Conservative and others never really got off the ground.
The first candidate that convinces Pennsylvania that they will reduce restrictions on individual rights and reduce mandates on small businesses (and maybe find a serious interim cure to the growing health care crisis here) will win in PA, where those in the heartland will most-likely decide the outcome.
Staff Update: Liana Evans has a good piece on Search Engine Watch on how each Democratic Candidate is using the web (Li also lives in PA), and we noticed this piece just go hot on Digg. (No doubt Li. The college kids are engaged this time).
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