CANVASSING STORIES.

I was in Pennsylvania for Columbus Day weekend with about 40 other Harvard students. I was canvassing Levittown, as in "first of the suburbs" Levittown. My longest talk was with a woman who for several decades was on the city Democratic committee for Levittown, and had led it for a time. She had lived in Levittown since she moved there as a child when it began, and had never voted for a Republican. She worked for Hillary in the primaries, but was going to vote for McCain until Palin was picked and the economy started collapsing.I couldn't make out what motivated this. It wasn't sexism; she didn't seem to think that Hillary was particularly mistreated. It wasn't conservative ideological leanings; she's an old-fashioned labor liberal, who still bemoans the US Steel plant closing and the couple next door that doesn't cars from Detroit. But she was leaning toward McCain until Palin. I couldn't wrap my head around it.I asked her if she had any concerns about Obama. "Well, they'd riot if he loses." "Who's they?" I asked. "The blacks. He's not a Muslim, he's just black. See, you're young. You don't remember when they were burning the cities down. They almost destroyed Philly, and if he loses they'll do it again." So why was she still leaning toward Obama? "The economy, of course. That Palin woman. But mostly, I realize that if he wins, they won't riot at all."