Soccer Fields vs. Tobacco Fields

The twin homunculi of NASCAR dads and soccer moms have stalked the land the last two national elections: recent news has the soccer moms winning out. The Washington Post reported recently that suburban issues have captivated Virginia’s current session of the General Assembly, as legislators read the tea leaves from last fall’s upset election of Gov. Tim Kaine. Kaine stumped hard in suburban areas, focusing on education, sprawl, transportation and gangs. As governor, he has continued to speak suburban. “Our families in Northern Virginia are angry about the traffic gridlock that stops them from living a normal life,” Kaine railed to the assembly in his first major speech as governor.

Curiously, second-hand smoke has emerged has a particular suburban issue in Virginia. In a state that has grown tobacco for four centuries, a recent bill to ban smoking in restaurants split state senators sharply along farming/suburban lines. (The ban later failed in the lower house.)

What policies the suburbs care about aren’t going to get any easier for politicians. A new Brookings Institution report out today supports what’s evident to any suburbanite: the suburbs are becoming more diverse. What does this mean for suburban pols used to representing middle-class whites? In his report, Frey writes, “the wider dispersal of minority populations signifies the broadening relevance of policies aimed at more diverse, including immigrant communities.” Here’s his translation in USA Today: “Politicians are going to have to figure out how to satisfy both groups."