"Rural voters shrug over Obama's 'bitter' comment," advises a headline over at the Patchwork Nation site, one of the more innovative attempts to cover the 2008 election. Christian Science Monitor political editor Dante Chinni is working with political scientist Jim Gimpel (a Yonderite if there ever was one) to write about the election from the bottom up.

Gimpel and Chinni have divided the nation into 11 different economic/cultural types (map above), and are then collecting commentaries about what's happening from residents in those communities. Last week, Ed Pratt wrote about the "Obama drama" from Baton Rouge. Arn Menconi writes from wealthy and white Eagle, Colorado, about the pathetic coverage given the race by the mainstream media.

Particularly interesting now is a chart showing the types of communities the candidates have been visiting. Obama has hunkered down in campus areas and industrial towns. Clinton has recently been in industrial towns and "monied burbs." Fascinating site, so check it out.