John Fund writes, in the Political Diary, from OpinionJournal.com:
Some blocs that lean Republican but don’t have a record of voting in large numbers were especially targeted [by the Bush-Cheney voter turnout effort]. Chief among them was the Amish.
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the Amish are conservative voters, but they also often don’t vote. Many shy away from political involvement; others are busy with chores or work. But this year they came out in droves in two states where they congregate — Ohio and Pennsylvania. Diane Marcella, the chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, reports that the Amish tipped the county to the Republicans for the first time since Richard Nixon’s 1972 landslide, even though Lawrence has 10,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans.
The Bush-Cheney effort began in the spring when 23 volunteers fanned out to register Amish voters in Lawrence and Mercer counties. “It was like a mini-vacation. It’s very pristine with no telephone lines, power lines and you see all white houses with beautiful flowers,” she said in describing Amish country.
The Bush volunteers discussed several issues in gathering their registrations, with abortion being one that hit especially home. Whatever was used to motivate them certainly worked. In some heavily Amish precincts voter turnout reached 100%.
Pete Vessella, the head of Lawrence County Democrats, grouses that the Amish had the wrong priorities in voting: “The people who should have been concerned about insurance, low-cost prescription drugs, education, tax breaks for the rich had no concern whatsoever. The only issues they were concerned about were pro-life and the NRA.”
Mr. Vessella sounds like he’s been reading “What’s Wrong With Kansas, Anyway?” — the latest feel-good liberal political tract filled with puzzlement as to why people of modest means refuse to vote Democratic. In the case of the Amish, perhaps it’s because more than almost anyone they do not live by bread alone.
Thanks to the Political Diary people for giving me permission to reprint this. (The Diary is subscription-only, with limits on reforwarding.)
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