On the July 7 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, host Chris Matthews teased an upcoming segment by saying: “They're the working-class white voters Hillary Clinton won and Barack didn't. Can Obama now win over the regular folks, white folks, against John McCain? We'll ask the strategists.” On the June 30 edition of Hardball, Matthews similarly teased a segment by asserting: “Up next: They're the working-class white voters Hillary won and Barack didn't. Can Obama win over the regular folks against John McCain?”

Matthews has also previously asked if Sen. Barack Obama was “too University of Chicago or too South Side Chicago” for working-class voters. Matthews posed the question after MSNBC senior campaign correspondent Tucker Carlson asserted that “the working-class voters of West Virginia and Kentucky, and their counterparts in a bunch of states, including Ohio and Pennsylvania” are “the voters you need to watch and he [Obama] needs to win.” Matthews also previously questioned whether Obama can “connect with regular people” or if he appeals “only” to African-Americans and the well-educated. Talking with Obama supporter Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) on the April 1 edition of Hardball, Matthews said: “Let me ask you about how he -- how's he connect with regular people? Does he? Or does he only appeal to people who come from the African-American community and from the people who have college or advanced degrees?”

From the July 7 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews:

MATTHEWS: Up next: They're the working-class white voters Hillary Clinton won and Barack didn't. Can Obama now win over the regular folks, white folks, against John McCain? We'll ask the strategists. You're watching Hardball.