Obama Voters Are Easy to Find in a N.H. Red Zone

Steve Stecklow reports from New Hampshire on Election Day. Registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by nearly two-to-one in Bedford, N.H., an affluent suburb of Manchester, but it wasn’t hard today to find supporters of Sen. Barack Obama at the town’s busy polling place today. Jeff Zarella , a 38-year-old air traffic controller who is a registered independent, said he voted for President George W. Bush four years ago. But this time he said he cast his vote for Obama. Why? “The last four years of Bush,” he replied. Even though he said he has “conservative values,” Zarella said he was extremely disappointed by Republican candidate John McCain’s campaign. “He had no direction,” he said. “He had a different message every week, including hateful.” As for Obama, he said, “I like his youth and I like his policies on the economy. I think they can help us more than McCain’s.” A woman conducting exit polling for television networks said her early counts showed that Bedford had split ... (link)