Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama drew thousands at an appearance in La Crosse last week, as he has all around the country since the primaries.
Obama’s message, on the day the Senate passed a $700 billion bailout measure, hit home in western Wisconsin as strongly as any place in the country.
He emphasized help to small businesses and people making under $250,000 a year. Those type of businesses and people are the backbone of the economy in western Wisconsin.
Sure, you have Trane, Ashley Furniture and other large corporate businesses in the region. You’ll find Wal-Marts throughout the area.
But, this also is a region where Logistics Health and S&S Cycle started small and have built themselves into leaders in their respective industries. It’s an area where hundreds, even thousands, of entrepreneurs run businesses like Dregne’s Gift Store, DiSciascio’s Coon Valley Inn, Ole & Lena’s Kaffe Huis and many more retail stores, restaurants, small manufacturing and service businesses.
Cooperatives flourish in the region. Organic Valley, an organic dairy and other organic food products coop, started with seven farmers looking for a better price for their milk and has become a leader in the organic movement.
The recession certainly has hurt businesses and people in western Wisconsin, but they aren’t whining. They’re still going to work every day, tending their farms and stores, and adapting to high fuel prices, higher health care costs and tight credit prompted in part by the irresponsibility of the large financial institutions in the country.
Certainly, foreclosures are up in the region. But, this is an area where neighbors rally to a farmer or resident who is in jeopardy of losing his or her property. Small town bankers try to work with people struggling.
These are the people who need to be heard by Obama, GOP candidate John McCain and others running for office. They don’t feel they have been heard by the Bush administration.
Obama picked Nikki Brown, a manager at a La Crosse Wal-Mart, to introduce him at his rally last week. Brown, whose husband is a partner in an area auto care shop, talked about the difficulty of raising three kids in tough economic times.
She was a good choice. She put a human face on a large corporation, and through her husband’s work also represented small businesses. Nikki and her husband are not partisan in their politics. Yet, they admitted they could use some of the breaks Obama has been talking about in his economic plan.
McCain and the Republicans undoubtedly also will visit the area and pitch their ideas on how to improve the economy. As it was in 2004, western Wisconsin is considered a “swing” area, and offers easy access to Minnesota and Iowa, two other swing states.
Voters in western Wisconsin have backed Democrats for president in recent elections, but have voted Republicans into office, especially for local and state offices.
Democrat or Republican, Obama or McCain, any candidate should listen to the people of the region when they come here seeking their votes.
Western Wisconsin represents a mixture of agribusiness, manufacturing, retail and service businesses. The people running and working for those businesses are hard working, enterprising. Most are members of the middle class and fear they are becoming extinct under the policies of the last eight years.
These folks don’t ask much from their government. But, in these tough economic times, they certainly can use incentives that help them move forward on their own, and at least not have obstacles thrown in their ways by government, Wall Street and financial institutions that first give tax breaks to the rich, money and credit too freely, then taketh away.
