3/17/2023 0 Comments Kelly conway and hanoi rocks![]() The candidates reflect the mobility of the voters." ![]() "But place is no longer as relevant to the American narrative and that's reflected in the backgrounds of the current presidential front-runners. Place figured very prominently in their experiences and aspirations, as it did for many voters," said Mahtesian. Ronald Reagan was one of the many Midwesterners who sought their fortune in California. Kennedy was an expression of the Northeastern Catholic experience. To Charles Mahtesian, editor of the indispensable Almanac of American Politics, the four politicians represent "the next iteration" in the broad sweep of the American story. He'll underscore the point next week when he makes his official announcement - at the Henry Ford museum in Dearborn, Mich. Somewhere between the "geographical poles" of Utah and Massachusetts, he said vaguely when asked in which state it would be. In an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune in 2001, Romney acknowledged his desire to run but appeared conflicted about where to launch his political career. Still, there was no lack of buzz about his seeking office in Utah after he took over the Salt Lake City Olympic Games. Despite his Michigan roots and undergraduate work at Stanford and Brigham Young University, Romney came to Cambridge for a joint MBA/JD in the 1970s and stayed. Romney arguably has a more solid claim on his Massachusetts ties. It didn't hurt that the state McCain happened to move to was and still is experiencing explosive growth thanks to snowbirds fleeing the chilly climes of the Midwest and Californians seeking their fortune in the less-crowded, less-expensive desert to the east. He swatted the critics away with one good line: "When I think about it, I guess the place I've lived the longest was Hanoi." McCain faced his own carpetbagging criticism when he first ran for a House seat in 1982, entering a crowded GOP primary field. Clinton, of course, broke many molds by running for office as a sitting first lady, and she was helped by the historic willingness of New Yorkers to welcome outsiders, as they did with Robert Kennedy in 1964. ![]() Elizabeth Holtzman, Bella Abzug or Geraldine Ferraro. His wife, Michelle, is from the city.Ī female New York lawyer? Once that would have been an ambitious ethnic pol from one of the outer boroughs like former Reps. Obama, however, came to Chicago to lead voter registration efforts, practice law and teach at the University of Chicago's law school. In his case, though, his father was a former automotive executive who became governor of Michigan.Ī black pol from Chicago's South Side? Twenty years ago, that would most likely have been a first- or second-generation transplant up from Mississippi who paid his dues in the city's legendary ward politics. Kennedy or a Brahmin in the tradition of the Cabots or Lodges. "They're living now in a different place than where they grew up."Ī generation ago, if you learned that a candidate like Romney was a Harvard-educated Bostonian, it was a safe guess that he would be a lace-curtain Irishman like John F. The 2008 candidates "represent the experience of a lot of Americans," said William Frey, a demographer and visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution. These days, the opposite may be true: Politicians with a muted geographical identity may be better positioned to compete in parts of the country - including fast-growing swing states like Nevada and Florida - where most folks are originally from somewhere else. In an earlier era, a candidate without thick local roots would have been at a distinct disadvantage trying to climb onto a national stage without a base of regional supporters, fellow politicians and donors. "Everything that was a local brand is now nationalized." That includes politicians no less than beer and department stores. "There have been huge homogenizing influences of America in last 50 years," said Robert Lang, co-director of Virginia Tech's Metropolitan Institute and a professor of urban affairs and planning.
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