Obama Needs to Try On a Blue Collar Dem struggles to overcome ‘arugula’ rep By Heather McPherson, Newser User Posted Aug 13, 2007 12:35 PM CDT Copied Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks during town hall meeting, Monday, Aug. 6, 2007, in Le Mars, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) (Associated Press) Barack Obama is having trouble appealing to the more downscale wing of the Democratic Party, a problem on display in a recent Iowa farm appearance in which the Chicagoan complained about the price of arugula at Whole Foods. More a “wine track” than a “beer track” candidate, Obama must find a way to bond with blue collar voters—or Clinton will own them, Newsweek reports. Hillary scores 12 points higher among voters without college degrees than those with them; her rival’s polls are reversed. The frontrunner knows how to work a rural crowd, making regular reference to being “born into a middle class family in the middle of America.” Still, there are signs of hope for Obama among low-income voters in South Carolina, where the two marquee Dems are tied. (More Hillary Clinton stories.) Report an error