By By SPIROS GALLOS / Niles Daily Star
NILES - It's not every day an international cable news network pays a visit to Niles, but that's just what happened Thursday afternoon.
CNN corespondent Keith Oppenheim arrived at the Republican Headquarters on Main Street just after 2 p.m., greeted by about two hundred cheering republicans, waving pro-Bush signs and chanting, "Four more years, four more years."
Oppenheim interviewed two of Niles' own, Tim Polega and Donna Ochenryder, to get an idea of the support for President George W. Bush in Niles.
When asked if republicans in Niles are optimistic about the chances of Bush winning Niles and southwest Michigan, Ochenryder responded enthusiastically, "Oh you bet."
After his interview Oppenheim, Polega explained why Niles and all of southwest Michigan are important in the Presidential election.
When asked if he was nervous about getting in front of the camera, Polega said he was used to it and it didn't bother him much.
In addition to Niles, CNN visited Buchanan and the farm of Gail Peterson in Cass County in southwest Michigan.
So what brought a CNN news crew to Niles, and other parts of southwest Michigan, with under a month until the Nov. 2 election?
Ed Sarpolus, a pollster with EPIC-MRA, a research firm based in Lansing, who has appeared on CNN in the past, explained that Niles is a "bell-weather town."
Sarpolus explained that Niles is a microcosm for the entire country.
Sarpolus also offered an explanation for Vice-President Dick Cheney's visit to Berrien Springs this morning and his visits to Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids later today.
Greg Roberson, 43, of Raleigh, N.C., was in Niles on a business trip and stopped into the republican headquarters to get a bumper sticker and shared the observations he has made while in Michigan.
Roberson said he noticed about a 5 to 1 ratio of Bush to Kerry signs as he raveled from Traverse City to Niles.
He also offered his view of the political climate in Raleigh, John Edward's home city.