This past weekend, my mom and I drove 3 hours northwest of our home (Ann Arbor, Michigan) to West-Central Michigan (Mt. Pleasant/Big Rapids areas). We took expressway most of the way but had to drive a number of rural roads, from Mt. Pleasant to Big Rapids, to get to our destination.

 As we drove the country roads, we engaged in a game of counting the number of Obama and McCain yard signs we saw. Traveling through small town/rural Michigan... typical Replublican, highly caucasian, very conservative, mostly prejudiced farming country... we expected to see a ton of McCain yard signs and just a few Obama signs.

However, as we started the game... much to our surprise and happiness and delight... we quickly noticed that this was going to be a fun game! Right from the get-go, there were plenty of Obama signs on display. In fact, the whole time, Obama challenged McCain, and in the end of our journey up north, Obama ended up edging out McCain by a couple of signs (he never lost the lead)!

Even though we were traveling from one college town to another, knowing that many of the college students at each are from the city, there is plenty of evidence that many rural citizens are fed up with the way things have been for the past 8 years. Most of the signs we saw were posted in the yards of rural houses... including in the yards of white farmers... who typically are Republican.

This past weekend was the homecoming for Ferris State University in Big Rapids. We heard, from a friend who was at the parade, that there was a huge Obama sign in the parade, but there were no McCain signs anywhere.

In our drive home after the weekend, we took a completely different route to the expressway than we did on the way up. We drove 70+ miles on rural roads. We again played our game. Again, Obama challenged McCain with the number of yard signs that we saw. Again, Obama stayed ahead of McCain... most of the time by 4-5 signs, except for in one area... where McCain edged out Obama by a couple. But, in the end, the numbers ended up being divided. And, in the town of Greenville, Michigan, Obama overwhelmingly KICKED ASS... more than 2-1 (we heard that several people in Greenville have lost their jobs due to factories in that area closing)!!!

Some might say, "Big deal. Obama didn't beat out McCain in number of yard signs. That doesn't mean much." But, to people who have lived in rural Michigan and who know that these areas are very staunch Republican, it IS a HUGE deal. For Obama to be so popular in such areas speaks for itself.

 Also, we spoke with some "townies" of Big Rapids and asked their opinions about the campaign, and they are undecided at this point (of course, we were doing our part to campaign for Obama).

There's a lot of evidence in the way of political yard signs that shows that rural areas of Michigan are divided about this presidential race. There's also evidence that many people in rural areas are undecided.

What does this mean? It means that the Republicans have done such a bad job in goverment in the past 8 years or more that people who typically vote Republican are changing their minds for THIS election, either by being for Obama or by being undecided.

This makes me EXTREMELY happy. Let's hope it is representative of other rural areas across the country, and let's hope it's representative of the way things will go at the polls in November!!!

GO OBAMA!!!