Joe’s Road Trip 2012

Columbus, Ohio

In this week’s print column I take a look at the common question among Democratic audiences–“Why don’t the middle and working classes vote their economic self-interest?”–from the perspective of the working poor and unemployed living in Southeastern Ohio.

Brook Park, Ohio and Columbus, Ohio

I spent yesterday with two groups of partisans—union workers in Cleveland who met with Democratic Congresswoman Betty Sutton. And later, I met with college-age Romney volunteers at the campaign’s Ohio headquarters in Columbus. TIME’s Jacob Templin provided the video:

Columbus, Ohio

A break from the road trip for one small quibble with Charles Krauthammer: he has now completely abandoned any intellectual integrity he may have had and joined the cult of Reagan mythmaking. Reagan did some fine things as president, like challenging and then negotiating with the “Evil Empire.” But he did not govern as …

Cleveland, Ohio

Well, we’ve hit the halfway point of this road trip, and we’re about to have some fun. Ry Cooder, the great American musician, music historian and slide-guitar genius is joining the trip for a few days, starting tomorrow.

1. “Hurtin’ Me, Hurtin’ You”–Steve Earle

2. “Sylvia Plath”–Ryan Adams

3. “Dance Yrself Clean”–LCD Soundsystem

4. “Two-Faced Love”–Del McCoury (a great cover of the Richard Thompson song)

5. “Plenty Good Lovin'”–Sam Moore (of Sam and Dave, one of the great soul voices)

On the drive through Pennsylvania–

1. “Why Must We Die?”–The McGarrigle Sisters

2. “Making Flippy Floppy”–Talking Heads

3. “Walk Like A Man”–Bruce Springsteen

4. “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again”–Bob Dylan

5. “Moons of Jupiter”–Sonia Dada

Some of the things I’ve learned over the first week on the road.

Philadelphia, Pa

I am absolved of having to be a TV news junkie on the road. I don’t even have much time, sadly, for the morning papers…and I’m feeling the need for my daily Andrew Sullivan and Ezra Klein blogosphere fixes. But some things do get through. Apparently, they had an election in Wisconsin last night. And the …