The   white "working-class vote" has become a synonym for "rural" among political writers. This mixed-up depiction of what's rural continues this week in The New York Times Magazine and Matt Bai's story, "Can Obama Close the Deal With Those White Guys?" Much of the article has Obama explaining his views of how and why rural voters are voting.

An excerpt, from an Obama talk in rural Virginia: "A teenage girl asked Obama what he might do specifically for rural America. I found it odd that Obama had to be prompted to address this question, but he warmed to it immediately, ticking off a list of public investments that his administration could bring to the region: broadband lines, school financing, the development of biodiesel fuels. He talked about creating more jobs for local students, 'so when they graduate from college those kids can stay here and live in Lebanon instead of having to go and work someplace else.'"

Obama then adds on his promise that he won't be taking away anybody's guns, including handguns. That was his rural pitch.