Bedford, Pennsylvania is as pretty as a picture postcard and has almost as long an association with the American presidency as is possible, which is to say, yes, George Washington slept here.
The cover of the Bedford Gazette said it all, as I scooped it up on Wednesday entering my lovely 18th Century hotel, "County Preps for Upcoming Election," blared the headline, and it isn’t just the county, it's the residents.
I met Carol at the Village News, a restaurant which is aptly named. Not only was it a newsstand back when such things existed, but it is now where the denizens of this historic town share the news, both local and national.
Carol was on her way to buy a stamp, to mail her husband's voter registration. It seems he hadn’t voted for some time, but this year he is.
"Is that because he sees this election as uniquely important?" I asked her.
"Maybe," she said, with the laconic charm I saw all over the town.
"The country is a business", she told me, "And we need a businessman to run it." Needless to say, Carol supports Donald Trump.
Her friends, Joel, Scott, and Tom, who owns the joint, concurred. They feel ignored. And they also feel that Trump won’t ignore them. That he listens. It's what I hear all over the country. And it is a big part of why the Real Clear Politics average of Pennsylvania polling has Trump pulling ahead with a narrow lead.
Back at my hotel, the Golden Eagle Inn, where I climbed the steps to my room and had an actual metal key, I met Meredith and her husband as I sat for dinner. They have a mixed political marriage. She’s all in for Harris, though she admits she wishes Kamala Harris would be clearer about who she is.
Her husband isn’t voting for Trump or Harris, he’ll vote for local candidates in their home in Virginia, but he can’t bring himself to support either top ticket dwellers on the national scene.
Such was the case with Matt, as well, a local who told me, "My first priority is my children, not politics." And before we cast the first stone, it's worth considering that he doesn’t think any politician has done much to help him.
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But Nathan was different, he had heard that I was in town, and sought me out. He had something to say and he darn well said it.
"Agriculture is more important than people think," he began, "multiple farmers are being squeezed out," he told me. "We have trade deals that are bad, we have Bill Gates, we have the Chinese who are buying up everything," and with a flourish he landed on, "We have farmers who are being paid not to farm their property. Why is that?"
If either candidate or their running mates have a good answer for that, I’ve yet to hear it.
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I’ll tell you a little something about the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, where I was born and raised. These people know their history and they care about it. Every town has a little museum and a local story. Ever heard of the Indian Adam and Eve? Go look it up.
The people I met in Bedford? Their families have been here for generations, some since the French and Indian War in the 1750s. They want answers, they want leadership, and they are finding it sorely lacking.
In the 19th Century, Bedford was known for its curative springs. Ten presidents, starting with James K. Polk, took the dip at the local resort, and the town still brims with the charm and history of America, younger than the mountains, but older than the trees, as they say where I live.
Pennsylvania is serious about how it takes its history and its present role as the key swing state.
These are the places in Pennsylvania that will decide the political future of our nation come November 5th, as residents of this state have done since before there even was a nation. And while voters have questions about both candidates, it is obvious that an excitement exists with the Trump campaign that Harris cannot match.
There is anxiety, even fear about where we are going as a country, but at least from some, also a resolute belief that voting matters. That we all do really have a say.
Carol got her husband’s voter registration card to the mailbox, and if there are enough Carols to compete with the Democrats’ political machine, then Trump has a real chance. But this is Pennsylvania, a place that has changed the world, and every vote here has to be earned.
