At rallies of faithful, contrasts in red and blue

By MARK LEIBOVICH

updated 5:28 a.m. ET Oct. 30, 2008

SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. - Supporters of Senators Barack Obama and Joseph R. Biden Jr. often look like Benetton-colored billboards, decked out for their candidates in Obama-Biden hats, T-shirts and buttons. Supporters of Senator John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin like logo merchandise, too, but tend more toward pompoms (yes, pompoms), homemade signs (“Pitbulls 4 Freedom”), flag pins and chest paint.

There is more dancing at Democratic rallies, more shouting out at Republican ones. They chant “Yes, we can” (or “Sí, se puede”) at Obama and Biden rallies, “U.S.A.” and “Drill, baby, drill” at McCain and Palin rallies; the D’s bounce to blaring folk-rock and Motown (Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder) and the R’s counter with country-pop (including Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5”) and arena rock ( AC/DC).

Democratic rallygoers seem more worried about Ms. Palin than about Mr. McCain. They speak of feeling weary of “the politics of fear” and claim Mr. McCain and Ms. Palin are “irrelevant” — unless they win, as one supporter in Charleston, W.Va., said with a smile-cringe.

When you ask Republicans what they think of Mr. Obama, the word “socialist” comes up more often than not. They mention that he is a smooth talker, and not in a good way. A lot of them seem to have real problems with Michelle Obama, too, though they cannot pinpoint why. And they do not much care for that Joe Biden, either, or whatever his name is — many cannot immediately summon it.

What can we learn from a close-in view of Democratic and Republican events at the end of a bitter, exhilarating campaign? It has become a cliché to say that the country is “divided,” but the anthropologies displayed at 11 campaign stops in recent days offer glimpses of partisan America.

In these last shopping days before the political Christmas, the distinctions — and some similarities — were marked. Mr. Obama’s crowds were the biggest and loudest, followed by Ms. Palin’s (with Mr. McCain’s third, and Mr. Biden’s fourth).

In audience volume, age and enthusiasm, Ms. Palin’s rallies have more in common with Mr. Obama’s than with Mr. McCain’s. Fans often crush toward Mr. Obama and Ms. Palin after they are finished speaking, clicking cellphone cameras over their heads.

The rallygoers keep a more respectful distance from the tickets’ grayer eminences, Mr. McCain and Mr. Biden, whose crowds appear older, more traditional party-base types (a lot of veterans for Mr. McCain, labor guys for Mr. Biden).

You can tell that Mr. McCain and Ms. Palin are all about being “mavericks,” because they remind you about it until they are red in the face; just as you can tell Mr. Obama and Mr. Biden are all about “change,” because they do the same until they are blue in the face.

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Ms. Palin is the best on the rope lines, working them with the gusto of someone who has been at this campaign racket for only two months, as opposed to two years.

Mr. Biden gets off the best one-liners, saying things like “John McCain criticizing George Bush is like Butch Cassidy going after the Sundance Kid.” He invokes his family a lot, too, including his 10-year-old granddaughter, Finnegan. (“Hull-o,” she says.)

Mr. McCain is most prone to ad-libbing, saying Tuesday in Harrisburg, Pa., that “no one will delay the World Series with an infomercial when I’m president.” (Mr. Obama bought half-hour advertisements before a World Series game Wednesday night.)

Mr. Obama has a knack for always coming off morning fresh, even at nighttime events. “Wow, look at this,” he has said, marveling at the size of his crowds.

Ms. Palin’s events could be Woodstocks, too, though Woodstocks that are attended by hollering home-schoolers, hockey moms and heavy-metal heads.

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