Why Georgia isn’t on Obama’s mind
The non-swing states of the United States, where custom, race and redrawn electoral districts mean the outcome of the vote is a certainty, have been dismissed by politicians from both sides
by
Benoît Bréville
Every morning at six, Russell Stanton, in his forties, gets in his pick-up and drives round the local agricultural businesses in the hope of a day’s work picking peaches, peanuts or corn. On a humid August night, Stanton kept leaving his air-conditioned motel room for a cigarette in the parking lot.
He’s lived in the motel, in Darien, Georgia, for the past three years. “It’s cheaper than renting an apartment. You’ve got electricity, cable, there’s even someone who comes in and cleans the room every day,” he said, smiling at his sister Jenna, who works as the motel chambermaid. She and her husband and children live at the motel in two adjacent rooms, and she works just a couple of hours a day. “The motel doesn’t have many clients, especially permanent residents,” she said. “At the moment, there’s a truck driver, his girlfriend, and a family of Indians. In this area people are just passing through. They’d rather stay near the freeway.” Presidential candidates no longer bother to visit Georgia either: they prefer to go to North Carolina or Florida — states that will help decide the forthcoming election.