obama plays missouri

In a place where "yes we can" is more likely to mean "we put up tomatoes," all 45 of the Democrats of southern Missouri turned out in greater West Plains (pop. 10,000). OK, so there are a few more who stayed home to watch CNN. The Obama office on the courthouse square—the first campaign office in West Plains in living memory—was shuttered as the (poorly) paid help threw an event in a neighboring town, but the rest of the faithful gathered at a nearby coffee shop to wave signs and chant along with the TV audience in a ballfield in Denver.