New Cities Emerging as Key Battlegrounds For Obama & McCain

HENDERSON, Nev./WASHINGTON (Reuters) – First came the foreclosure crisis. Next, gas prices went through the roof. Now, beleaguered Americans living on the edge of metropolitan areas face a third plague: politicians.

Political campaigns call Carrie Mercherle's sewing machine shop in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson four or five times a day, seeking her vote in the presidential election on November 4.

Mercherle generally hangs up before they can start their pitch.

"We're just very tired of it," Mercherle said. "It's like, just get (the election) over with already."

Fast-growing "exurbs" like Henderson, commuter towns outside the traditional suburban belts surrounding cities, have emerged as a crucial battleground in the 2008 election as Democrats consolidate their hold on older, inner-ring suburbs, many of which once voted reliably Republican.

Exurban and outer-suburban counties, many outside the reach of urban public transportation systems, make up 72 of the 94 most contested counties this year, according to a study by Virginia Tech's Metropolitan Institute.

Millions of voters have moved to new developments in sprawling exurbs over the past decade, trading longer commutes for larger or less expensive houses.

But many of those houses now stand empty, thanks to the foreclosure crisis and those that do find buyers sell for less than what they would have fetched a year ago.

Soaring gas prices also made those long driving commutes more expensive.

Republican President George W. Bush carried exurban areas handily in 2000 and 2004, but Democrats narrowed the gap in the 2006 midterm elections that handed them control of Congress.

But Democrats see an opportunity to win these areas this year, as economic issues dominate the presidential race.

NEW TOWNS AND CITIES

Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama and their vice-presidential running mates have campaigned heavily in cities and towns that barely existed 10 years ago.

Both recently held rallies in the outer reaches of Virginia's Washington suburbs, areas that backed Bush in 2004 but have since voted for Democratic candidates for governor and senator.

Voters are less likely to be swayed this year by social issues like abortion or gay marriage that had pushed them toward Republicans in the past, experts say.

"These are economic conservatives, they're not social conservatives," said George Mason University professor Michael McDonald at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

In Nevada, places like Henderson hold the balance between heavily Democratic Las Vegas and conservative rural areas. Both of the major party vice presidential candidates, Republican Sarah Palin and Democrat Joe Biden, have made stops here.

"If those areas break Democratic, that will be determinant," said Eric Herzik, a political science professor at the University of Nevada in Reno.

Henderson's population has grown by more than one-third since the turn of the century, as new residents have flocked to Las Vegas' booming job and real estate market.

But as of last month, 3.5 percent of all housing units in the Las Vegas metro area were in foreclosure -- the second-highest rate in the country.

With recession looming, Mercherle's store is often empty.

"The biggest issue for me is the economy. We can't survive without the sales," said Mercherle, who plans to vote for McCain.

At a cafe a few blocks down the street, Alica Hudson, 18, was considering a vote for Obama. She likes his health care plan, she said, but is less enthusiastic about his stance on taxes.

"I'll make up my mind when I get to the polling station," she said.

(Writing by Andy Sullivan, editing by Patricia Zengerle)