Fallin travels by train through western Oklahoma

This whistle stop tour takes you back to the days of Oklahoma statehood in the early 1900's when campaigning by train was done not only in Oklahoma but around the Country. It is nice to see a part of history brought back to life in the Governor's race.  

Today the New York Times gives Mary Fallin a 95.9% chance to become the next Oklahoma Governor with 55.3% of the vote. Voters know where Mary stands on issues as she has always been a conservative while her opponent, Jari Askins, pretends to be conservative while supporting liberal Obama and his agenda. That commercial of Askins saying she was a conservative still leaves us shaking our heads.

We have yet to figure out why Askins and Democrats question Mary's stance on standing up to Obama and the Democrats in Congress. Who do they think is putting unfunded mandates on the States?  We support Fallin 100% in her taking on the Obama Administration over Obamacare, enforcement of Federal Law on illegals, against the taxes on oil and gas industry and any other unfunded mandate the liberal DC democrats are putting on the States. Did Askins ever take a position on Obamacare? Last we heard she wasn't commenting what she would do -- typical Democrat non-committal response if it goes against the wishes of the voters. 

Guess her noncommittal response tells the voter that Askins is not willing to stand up to the President or any of the Democrats in DC for the State of Oklahoma.  That one item is a clear difference between Mary Fallin and Jari Askins and one that voters need to remember on November 2nd!   Mary Fallin will stand up for Oklahoma and Askins will not say what she will do -- wishy washy it sounds like to us waiting to be told what she should do! 

Fallin travels by train through western Oklahoma

From the Associated Press:

THOMAS, Okla. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin took her campaign for Oklahoma governor to the tracks Monday, touting her message of smaller government, lower taxes and pro-business polices on a whistle-stop train tour through several rural western Oklahoma cities.

In a throwback to old-school politics, the Fallin campaign leased a two-car passenger train with a caboose dubbed the “Washita Princess” adorned with American flags and red-white-and-blue banners. A professional fiddle player performed at each stop.

“We have a great appreciation for the values that Oklahoma brings, especially in rural communities,” the Republican nominee said from the back of the caboose outside the Wheeler Brothers Grain Company in Thomas. “We’re going to make government work for you, not you work for the government.”

Fallin also made stops in Clinton, Cordell and Hobart on Monday. Fallin will face Democratic Lt. Gov. Jari Askins in the November general election, with both women seeking to replace term-limited Democratic Gov. Brad Henry.

About 100 Fallin supporters and volunteers packed into the slow moving Farmrail train, which meandered across the open prairie of western Oklahoma on tracks usually reserved for freight trains carrying wheat, gypsum, fertilizer and oil drilling equipment.

“This may be the last whistle-stop train tour you see in Oklahoma,” said University of Oklahoma political science professor Keith Gaddie. “No one rides trains anymore.

“The modern whistle-stop tour is the tarmac.”

Fallin addressed supporters at the Route 66 Museum in Clinton, ending each stump speech with her tag line: “Nobody will work harder for Oklahoma, nobody.”

Fallin’s visit to small communities in western Oklahoma is an important way to let rural voters know she cares about them, said Clinton Mayor Allen Bryson.

“Western Oklahoma is often just a stop for travelers along Interstate 40,” Bryson said. “This kind of visit goes a long way.”

Western Oklahoma also has grown increasingly conservative, and Democratic state lawmakers have been losing seats there for years.

In Cordell, where Fallin delivered her speech from the Washita County Courthouse steps, her message of creating a business friendly environment with lower taxes and changes to the workers’ compensation system resonated with 68-year-old municipal worker Lydia Hall.

“We’re losing a lot of jobs out here,” Hall said. “A lot of the young people who leave our community don’t come back.”

After ending the daylong train trip in Hobart, Fallin planned to attend a fundraiser in Frederick.