I was feeling a mite low yesterday afternoon, heading to Day Two of Denver, bumping along amid a sea of my fellow reporters (and one or two actual Democrats -- there are some here) through a scorching afternoon along the hellish, roped-off, cement stretch of cattle path cut through downtown Denver to the Branding Center where the artists once known as the people's party had held forth with distressing mutedness on Day One.

And then, just about thirty yards short of the first of many points at which DNCC passes are scowlingly scrutinized, setting apart The Invited from The Masses, I beheld a thing of great joy: Two older, white, baseball-cap-wearing, fellows, each holding one end of a red, white and blue banner that proclaimed: "Rednecks For Obama."

Les Spencer and his friend, Tony Veissman (apologies for a possible misspelling) came all the way out from Rolla, Missouri -- the very sweet spot of America, if you look at it from a certain angle. "The population of the United States is almost a bull's eye for Rolla," Spencer says. "Actually, the last time I heard it was a steel mill about nineteen or twenty miles Southeast of us."

What in the world brings a sixty-year-old retiree nearly halfway across America to hold a banner, when he can't even get into the convention? "We just wanted to show our support for Barack Obama," Spencer says. "We think he's the right man for the job."

Why is that?

"Well, I've heard him speak -- I follow politics on TV and in print and everything. I do the best I can to keep up with it, and from everything I've seen -- of course, I'm a little prejudiced because I'm a Democrat, and he got the Democratic nomination and he's the one I'm supporting.

"To tell the truth, at first I was for Joe Biden. I like him because he says what he means. If he gets upset with something, I mean, he gets with it. But he didn't get traction. So now, with Biden as vice president, I got both of what I wanted."

I ask Spencer why he and his friend chose to embrace the "redneck" label. "The reason we chose this is, several years ago, Mel Carnahan of Rolla, Missouri, was running for governor. And they had a debate, and his opponent called him a redneck from Rolla. And Carnahan turned it around on him, said, 'I'm proud to be a redneck from Rolla, Missouri,' and the rednecks got mad about that and they elected him to two terms as governor and Senator before he was tragically killed, you know, in a plane crash.

"We just kind of thought if we had rednecks for Carnahan, well, we'd have rednecks for Obama."

The self-declared rednecks have attracted a fair amount of attention with their message (and their matching presentation), and Veissman's daughter has put a Web site up: Rednecks4Obama.com, complete with photos and merchandise. (Whatever questions of sincerity a hardened cynic might want to raise, it's hard for me not to wish that a whole lot of Rednecks for Obama shirts at $17.99 will get sold.) But despite the notoriety, Spencer says he's seen some genuine surprise as the Democrats streamed toward the convention hall and caught sight of these fellows holding that banner. "I've seen so many people coming by here, going, 'Look at that!' And we've had a lot of camera action."

Some folks have even ventured to challenge his redneck credentials--after all, how could it be? "I've had people step out here and ask me what entitles me to call myself a redneck," Spencer says. "Shoot, I'm from the country, I was raised without running water in the house till I was out of high school, I went to a one-room schoolhouse, I've raised hogs, I've raised cattle, I've raised chickens, I hunt, I fish, I own guns, I own a boat, a four-wheel drive, and I like NASCAR. If that don't qualify me to be a damn redneck, I don't know what the hell does."

Are these Bubbas for Barack trying to make the salient point that redneck doesn't equal racist? "Yeah, that's the message we're trying to send out: Don't be afraid to vote for Obama."

Why are people afraid of him?

"I don't know. Some people just don't like change. And we've never had a president that was the skin color he is. But that don't cut no ice with me. I don't care if you're black, green or yellow -- if you're qualified for the job, and he certainly is."

Spencer runs into plenty of opposition back in Rolla, he admits. He assures them that Obama isn't dumb enough to even think about trying to take away their guns. He reminds them that they can't afford to keep putting Republicans in. And he keeps on advertising his support for the Democratic candidate, hoping that, at the least, "Maybe people will think if these rednecks are from Rolla, maybe it ain't so bad being for Obama."

For the thousands of elite Democrats who've stared at the Rednecks for Obama banner in wonderment this week, the message might be a little different: that maybe it ain't so bad being a 60-year-old white man from Rolla, Missouri.

"We're the same," says Spencer. "We're the same. We're all the same." It sounded a little bit like a prayer.

Comments (15)

1. Mel Carnahan, the corpse that beat Bush's pick for AG. The AG that then went on to decide the Constitution is dead.

   Posted by crabwalk at 08/27/2008 @ 07:32am

2. Well, I don't know 'bout all that, Cuz. I still ain't votin' for Obama just on a 'count of eas good 'ol boys from Missoura. Hit's a kindly qar, if ya ask me. Havin' these two fellas, here a travlin' clear cross the country just to hole up a bed sheet? The rednecks I know tend to stay put, and rightly shy away from high falootin' road trips.

   Posted by Person at 08/27/2008 @ 08:03am

3. Good for them!

   Posted by k330k at 08/27/2008 @ 08:04am

4. And to think...all it took was a "faux redneck" like Dubya.

   Posted by Maskdelta at 08/27/2008 @ 09:12am

5. moving to NY state from Miss, this is awesome, I would get one of these shirts if they are on Obama's website....we are supposedly progressive here in NY state, but state govt here is more intrusive and paternalistic than anywhere else I have been, with no "trickle down" effect causing a major "brain drain"....out of here...I want a candidate favoring jobs of the future, smart growth, career training for real jobs in new fields of "alternative" energy, more intelligent policies for health care, educational opportunities, a more intelligent measure of poverty, other "progressive" policies, taking another 1% from top 1% isn't going to hurt anybody at the top, when our CEOS all make a thousand times the avg. worker, compared to ten times in europe and asia.....

   voting for the "best man for the job" would seem to be common sense, and finally some people "get it".....

   I petitioned for Obama, and just lately have started to get depressed...

   Finally, Obama/Biden and all dems need to lash into Mcbush and stop playing around on defense like wimps or they will get swiftboated....

   my younger office workers just believe whatever cnn tells them without researching anything.....which is scary...as campaigns turns dirty, it favors GOP...mcbush commercial have never once, that I have seen, had any positive message.....only attacked Obama....

   It is great that there are a lot of website fighting the smears by both Obama and Kerry....but Obama needs to attack him now....on one on one debates, catch him off guard, mcsame usually doesn't even know where he is.......if you want Cold War, vote for mcbush....but you will be fighting side by side with women, minorities, no matter who you voted for.....

   Posted by jrs112 at 08/27/2008 @ 09:50am

6. Posted by jrs112 at 08/27/2008 @ 09:50am | ignore this person | warn this person

   What in tarnation are you rambling about? You ought to slow down a little bit, Flap Jack, and get your McThoughts in a straight line.

   Posted by Person at 08/27/2008 @ 11:05am

7. "Dumb as a coon ass to think Magic is certainly "qualified for the job"!"----Posted by 2HAPPY at 08/27/2008 @ 11:21am

   Sorry, HAPPY, that's "dumb as a Magic ass"....don't screw up and let things like that slip out or your CYA is blown.

   Posted by Maskdelta at 08/27/2008 @ 11:26am

8. If one really followed the politics or just read the papers, do the democrats need to do anything? Everytime McBush opens his mouth he does damage to himself if you listen. Hell, he thought the war was over, and two, he measured progress by how many iraqis we killed. Is no one paying attention here? There is enough material to prosecute Bush and show what an McIdiot is all about. Does it surprise anyone that even "Rednecks" get it?

   Posted by psahome at 08/27/2008 @ 11:30am

9. The rednecks can get it but the idiots on the neo-con party and Rush and Hannity followers still can't. These folks are so brain washed they are like zombies.

   Posted by Gusto at 08/27/2008 @ 12:56pm

10. Actually the town of Steeleville was once the population center of the US, not a steel mill (none of which are in Missouri!!)>

    Posted by ozarkwild at 08/27/2008 @ 1:50pm

11. This is no country for an old man with old ideas or his Grand Old Party politics. IVAN LADIZINSKY

    Posted by ladizinsky at 08/27/2008 @ 2:25pm

12. Woo hoo! Way to represent us Missourians, guys! Mel Carnahan proved that Missouruh/Missouri is NOT a red state even if our necks are red! We believe in TRUE family values like affordable health insurance so this state is gonna swing for Obama blue in November! Yee ha!

    Posted by jancuisine at 08/27/2008 @ 4:11pm

13. Dumb as a coon ass to think Magic is certainly "qualified for the job"! Posted by 2HAPPY at 08/27/2008 @ 11:21am

    Just so you know Happy. Coon, is a racial slur. It means nigger. So I would be careful where you use that and in what context.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 08/27/2008 @ 6:17pm

14. don't just think "redneck" and THAT type of words kinda go together? Posted by 2HAPPY at 08/27/2008 @ 7:40pm

    Haha true. I'm just letting you know in case you didn't. You are older than me so I am sure you know but in case you didn't.

    Posted by Cccomfo1 at 08/27/2008 @ 11:01pm

15. Well, if this world can have Hip Hop Republicans (how in the *Hell* can you be a "hip-hop" Republican!?) I guess we can have rednecks for Obama.

    Posted by mdetrano at 08/30/2008 @ 1:10pm