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Irish American Groups Battle for Votes

By
CAHIR O'DOHERTY,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Tuesday, March 10, 2009, 1:23 AM
Updated Thursday, July 23, 2009, 5:58 PM

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Irish American voters are a key demographic in the race to decide who becomes president next week, and in the final days of the election campaign Irish American supporters of both parties are working tirelessly to elect their respective candidates.

The Irish Voice spoke to Irish American groups supporting both candidates in battleground states to get their take on how the respective campaigns are playing out on the ground.

In Pittsburgh, Jim Lamb, who is head of the Irish Institute there and an Irish for Obama campaign organizer, told the Irish Voice, "Pittsburgh is historically a Democratic city - our City Council is all Democrats - so people from Irish backgrounds here are more in support of Obama than McCain.

"I'm coordinating the Pittsburgh Irish for Obama group here and since the convention we've worked closely with Stella O'Leary, the national chair of the Irish American Democrats and Carol Wheeler, Obama's liaison to the Irish community."

Lamb noted that there was a great diversity of opinion within the Irish community in Pittsburgh about the most pressing issues facing Irish American voters there, saying that some were encouraged by the recent letter from Obama to the AOH and the Irish American Unity Conference. In the letter Obama addressed the issues of immigration, appointing a special envoy to Northern Ireland and other topical concerns.

"There are other Irish American voters here who are more concerned about the economy, the war in Iraq and the other issues that most Americans take an interest in," Lamb added. "It's clear to us already that they're trending strongly toward Obama."

As if to illustrate the unpredictable nature of the 2008 race, in Omaha, Nebraska, a state which hasn't voted for a Democratic candidate for president since 1964, the normally safe Republican state is in play this year, with a real chance that it may turn blue for the first time in decades.

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