John McCain’s campaign manager Rick Davis believes Wal-Mart moms are a key demographic in the presidential race. Go to Wal-Mart and stand next to the greeter for 20 minutes. Go see the voters we’re targeting. If you see them, you’ll understand them.

Reuters’ Nicole Maestri did more than just watch. She talked with Wal-Mart moms. I’m not sure what John McCain can offer them.

Patricia Norris’ family is feeling the one-two punch of higher fuel and food prices.

Her husband works as messenger, driving around to deliver packages. But the job is not as profitable as it once was because rising fuel prices are eating into his earnings.

With money tight and food prices rising, Norris can no longer afford to buy beef and chicken on a regular basis.

“We buy meat only for special occasions. Like for Easter, we had a ham,” she said after a shopping trip at her local Wal-Mart in Romeoville, a mixed blue- and white-collar suburb of Chicago.

Norris must purchase only what is on her shopping list, to avoid spending more than she can afford.

“Sometimes I cry,” she said, when she passes items on store shelves she can no longer buy.

Does Sen. McCain really think that a 21st century remake of President Herbert Hoover’s chicken in every pot will sway Wal-Mart moms like Patricia Norris?

I don’t.

Already squeezed by high gasoline prices, slumping home values, a weakening job market and the possibility that the U.S. economy is in a recession, consumers have adopted a no-nonsense approach to shopping, passing over a trip to Target or a local grocery store if they can find lower prices at Wal-Mart.

They are buying cheaper store-brand products, avoiding costly cuts of meat, consolidating trips, clipping coupons, constructing well-researched shopping lists and avoiding splurges to spend only the bare minimum.

“I don’t buy anything I don’t have to,” Norris said.

U.S. consumer food prices normally rise by about 2.5 percent annually, but they increased by 4 percent in 2007 — the biggest increase in 17 years, according to U.S. Agriculture Department data.

Prices continue to rise. A survey conducted by the American Farm Bureau Federation in February showed that in the beginning months of this year, the cost of 16 grocery items, including flour and cheddar cheese, was $45.03, up $3.42, or 8 percent, from the fourth quarter.

Rising prices have Wall Street gnomes gleefully recommending Wal-Mart stock because of the plight of Wal-Mart moms.

Who will be left to buy the cheap plastic crap from China?

Jeff Hess: Have Coffee Will Write.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, April 5th, 2008 at 0916 by Jeff Hess and is filed under Customer Satisfaction, Economics, Recession. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.