What the battle for the undecideds boils down to

Canvassing for Obama on the suburban fringe of Allentown, PA today, I had two unusually long conversations with undecideds. Both were mistrustful of Romney. Both, however, felt that Obama had ballooned the debt and showered too much largess on the poor -- food stamps, Medicaid, welfare.

Just now, starting out for a walk, I had a thought that stopped me in my tracks and sent me back to the computer. It's really simple. Many undecideds are caught between a feeling that Romney will feed their lunch to the rich -- and that Obama will feed it to the poor. They're not sure which is worse.

Update, 8/30: Ron Fournier at National Journal probes the evidence that Romney is playing the race card and that it's working among working class whites.

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Obama flashes his debate strategy
Fallows builds up Romney the debater
GOP Demonization Index soars again 

A worrisome microsamplling

My takeaway from several articles published in the wake of Obama's statement of support for gay marriage was that the 'evolution' would not significantly hurt his support in the African American community. Perhaps not. But trolling for voter registrations and supporter signups in a couple of parks in Allentown, PA yesterday, my little group encountered three African Americans who said they would not vote for Obama because of his stand on gay marriage. Can't say how many people, or black people, we spoke to overall.  But those reactions did jolt a bit.