Could someone comment on my question re:WV hopes of going blue?

[CAcyclist]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x54785

I hav an excerpt from the NYT article today about how everyone in WV was surprised Kerry didn't win, but I thought no one expected to win WV, due mainly to gun rights.

[new2004voterWV]

1. No clue

I have only lived here 2+ years, and this is my first year as a registered voter. According to my husband, WV is a red state. The funny thing I see is tho, we have more folks elected that are blue, than red. I was shocked to see Kerry lose here, especially when most of the other locals that were elected were Democrats as well. :shrug: :wtf:

[MountainLaurel]

2. There were hopes

WV is traditionally VERY Democratic, to a large extent because the party for so long was associated with blue-collar workers and the unions. However, now that the Dems have abandoned the lower classes, WVans tend to be voting more Repuke because of social issues. 2000 was the first year in ages that WV voted for a Republican presidential candidate. Many attribute this to Al Gore's support of gun control (or at least the NRA's missives on that topic).

This year, many believed that the dire economic situation in WV would make up for this. That people who have lost their pensions, their jobs, access to health care under the Shrub, those who have seen companies that dump toxic sludge in the water get away scot free, those who have lost their contracted rights when a coal company uses a Bush-created loophole to go bankrupt so they wouldn't have to pay pension benefits: that all these would vote based on their wallets rather than with what their church leaders tell them.

Apparently not.