How did out-of-town journalists view our region?

From staff reports
Published: August 21, 2008

Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign stops in Martinsville, Danville and Lynchburg brought the national spotlight on southern and southwestern Virginia. Here are a few excerpts showing how national journalists described our area.

The Associated Press had perhaps the most colorful description. Writing ahead of Obama’s talk in Martinsville, the AP described the city south of Lynchburg as “on the western edge of a region of south-central Virginia dotted by small factory and farm towns whose culture is distinctively Dixie. Sundays are all about church, Saturdays are for hunting and fishing, Fridays in the fall are for high school football, and Wal-Mart is the big retailer seven days a week.“

Apparently the number of people gathered at E.C. Glass High School made an impression on at least a couple of journalists. The Web-only Washington Independent described the gathering place as “a school gymnasium literally shaking from the rafters with a racially mixed crowd of 2,200” while the New York Times noted it was “a more raucous crowd” than the one in Martinsville.

A number of political stories emphasized Virginia’s traditional conservatism while noting its importance in this year’s election. Obama considers it, as the Los Angeles Times wrote, one of “three Southern states he hopes to color blue in November.“ CNN said “Virginia has become a battleground state after years of being reliably Republican.“ A McClatchy Newspapers story called it “a conservative stretch of this swing state that’s key to his election strategy.“

Finally, the late Rev. Jerry Falwell’s legacy is still well-known outside the Hill City. McClatchy’s story defined Lynchburg as “the hometown of the late televangelist Jerry Falwell and his Liberty University.“