Has Hillary dropped out of the presidential race? If you had been out of the country for six weeks and just returned home to New England, you’d not be faulted for thinking Clinton had withdrawn. Perhaps her frightening, all-too-regular coughing/gagging spells had signaled a life-threatening condition?
Debbie and I just completed another back-road swing through R.I., southeast Conn and western Massachusetts (including Ware, yet another depression-era town). Not a Clinton lawn sign to be seen across the Democrat-riddled New England region. This observation includes Amherst, Mass, perhaps among the most liberal outposts in America. As expected, no Trump lawn signs in Amherst. But what was not expected: not a single sign for Hillary. (See Debbie’s post on the matter here).
In the end, there was not one Hillary sign over three states, Massachusetts, Connecticut and RI, including our summer base in strongly Democrat Newport.
The final count:
- Hillary: zero.
- Gary Johnson and Bernie: 2 each.
- Donald Trump: 10.
I have been riding Rt. 9 through Ware in western Mass for over five and a half decades—starting with my Babson days visiting a college buddy in Wilbraham. I almost could make the run blindfolded, and kind of wished I had this trip. The huge hydro-centric brick mill, with all those workers laid off and the factory long since shut down, has produced a tragic trickle-down effect. Ware was never a prosperous metropolis, but there was a movie theatre, drugstore and bank—signs of a working man’s community.
Most of Main Street is now hollowed out. Many buildings are empty and dilapidated. In the middle of town, many storefronts are boarded and look ready for demolition. Except, who is going to spend money on demolition? There were precious few haggard souls on the streets on a beautiful September day. Only Debbie Wong’s remains from the old days. So much for a former working-class, jobs-rich, mom-and-pop business-centric New England town. It’s DOA.
The outlook for shabby Ware, Mass. appears to be as bleak as that for the compromised Hillary Clinton.
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