The last time voters in the Democratic stronghold of Fayette County favored a Republican for the White House, President-elect Barack Obama was 11 years old.
In the midst of trouncing George McGovern and winning re-election with 520 electoral votes in 1972, Republican incumbent Richard Nixon won Fayette by 4,813 votes.
This year, despite an almost 41,000-registration edge for Democrats in Fayette and a 10 percent margin of victory for Obama statewide, GOP nominee John McCain beat Obama by 160 votes, according to unofficial results.
The same scenario played out across rural Southwest Pennsylvania on Tuesday night, as McCain topped America's first black president in counties like Westmoreland, Washington and Beaver although a majority of voters identify themselves as Democrats.
Political observers said it's an interesting -- but explainable -- phenomenon capping an election cycle in which Obama annoyed some Pennsylvania voters by saying they "cling to guns or religion" in tough economic times and veteran Democratic Rep. John Murtha caught flak for saying his district is "racist" and "really redneck."
In interviews Wednesday, elected officials, political scientists and party heads said they believe a flurry of socially conservative Democrats wanted to back a candidate who is pro-life and a strong gun-rights supporter.
As Joseph DiSarro, chair of the political science department at Washington & Jefferson College, put it: Obama "is not perceived as wearing an NRA button on his jacket."
Democratic Fayette County Commissioners Vince Zapotosky and Vince Vicites said they expected a close race, despite the registration edge.
Four years ago, John Kerry beat George W. Bush by only 4,075 votes. In April, 79 percent of Democrats voted to nominate Hillary Clinton.
"I think you have a lot of conservative Democrats in Fayette County, and the overall appeal maybe wasn't as big for Obama as it might have been for other candidates," said Zapotosky, who supported Obama after backing Clinton in the primary.
Zapotosky and Vicites noted that McCain's vote margins were larger in Westmoreland and Washington counties, where the Arizona senator won by 29,332 and 4,467 votes, respectively.
Democrats have almost a 49,000 registration edge in Westmoreland and just shy of a 40,000 advantage in Washington.
Republican inroads
Still, George W. Bush won twice in Westmoreland, and Gov. Ed Rendell and Westmoreland County Commissioner Tom Balya conceded at a rally last week that McCain would win here.
While statewide Democratic candidates like incumbent Auditor General Jack Wagner and Treasurer-Elect Rob McCord won in Westmoreland, Republican Tim Krieger claimed the first GOP victory in the 57th Legislative District in four decades and Republican Kim Ward held the 39th Senate District for her party.
Meanwhile, Murtha's margin of victory was smaller in Westmoreland than in other parts of his widespread district, Balya noted.
"I think Democrats (in Westmoreland) are much more likely to split the ticket than Republicans anymore," Balya said.
George Dunbar, chair of the Westmoreland GOP committee, said he believes Westmoreland residents have a proclivity for voting for a person, not a party.
"We did lose the war," Dunbar said of Obama's national win, "but we won a lot of small battles in Westmoreland County."
DiSarro, the political scientist, also credited frequent appearances by McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin -- including an August rally at Consol Energy Park in Washington County -- with engaging area voters.
Debating race's role
Albie Mercer, outgoing chair of the Washington County GOP, said Republicans were energized in the region. Also, new residents in the county seem to be leaning toward Republicans, as evidenced by Kerry's win by only 552 votes in 2004, she said.
"I think even the Democrats that live in Washington County are conservative, they're religious," said Mercer of Peters. "I mean, the terrible thing Obama said about them."
While ideology likely mattered to most voters, a retired sociology professor and NAACP member in Fayette said the results there prove that Murtha's comments about race were truthful.
The Rev. Howard E. Dantzler Sr. said Democrats lobbied hard for Clinton in the spring, but shied away from Obama in the fall.
"You have some strange people in Fayette County, but they vote to cut their own throat sometimes," he said. "This is one of the poorest areas in the state, but they don't realize he's trying to help them. It's a pitiful situation."
A political scientist at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg also said he thought race "clearly" played a role in the election, although social conservatism and an older population in Westmoreland have benefited Republicans in recent years.
"I heard at least 10 or 12 (people), some more direct than others, say that they were hesitant to vote for a black person," said Paul Adams, who served as a poll watcher Tuesday in a Hempfield precinct.
DiSarro said race was a factor, but not in a significant way to affect the results.
"The person that's so concerned with race probably wouldn't vote," he said.
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