Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly 2-to-1 in W. Va. but McCain won by 13 points in 2008

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/10/05/politics/main20115900.shtml

October 5, 2011 9:38 AM

Democrat wins W.Va. governor race

(AP) CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Democrat Earl Ray Tomblin edged a Republican newcomer in West Virginia's special election for governor, suggesting the state's recent economic gains mattered more to voters here than an unpopular sitting president of the same party — barely. But the barrage of attack ads targeting Tomblin, the acting governor, likely tightened his race with businessman Bill Maloney in the final weeks.

Maloney and his GOP backers sought to make it a Republican upset by invoking the unpopular President Barack Obama. But the Mountain State's improving financial health helped Tomblin while the negativity in the GOP attack ads turned off some voters. Tomblin also ran attack ads during the campaign.

Maloney and the Republican Governors Association hammered the acting governor with TV ads depicting him alongside Obama and faulting him for failing to join an unfolding multistate legal challenge of the president's signature initiative, the federal health care overhaul. Though Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly 2-to-1, West Virginia stayed red in 2008 and Obama suffers one of his lowest approval ratings in the state, according to the most recent Gallup survey.

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http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/wv/west_virginia_mccain_vs_obama-632.html

Date Sample MoE McCain (R) Obama (D) Spread
Final Results -- -- -- 55.7 42.6 McCain +13.1

[valerief]

1. Funny how those electronic voting machines work, huh? nt

[liberal N proud]

5. Couple that with disenfranchising voters and it spells victory for the right

[TheWraith]

6. You think electronic voting machines were the reason we lost West Virginia?

No other reasons?

Even Clinton in his 1996 reelection only won WV with 52% of the vote.

[Blue Owl]

14. That's the beauty of it -- nobody can ever know

Wouldn't this be a good place to start cleaning house, elected Democrats?

[TheWraith]

16. No, I'm pretty sure we CAN know.

Because registration numbers aside, West Virginia is incredibly conservative and tied to the coal industry. That doesn't jibe well with national-level Democratic politics.

[RZM]

2. Democrats outnumber Republicans by an even larger margin in NYC

Yet it's been quite a long time since there's been a Democratic mayor there. It's not uncommon for there to be such discrepancies between whom voters choose for local, state, and federal offices.

[valerief]

19. And electronic voting machines outnumber all voters, regardless of party, when you get down to it.

[me b zola]

3. Election fraud is a very real thing and something that needs to be addressed

That being said, I think we should remember the southern strategy that was employed during the Democratic primary which completely mobilized latent racist feelings in many voters (as intended). West Virginia was a hot spot for this.

[FBaggins]

4. Southern Democrats have voted for Republicans in large numbers for decades.

This is by no means "new".

Reagan won WV by double digits in '84... as did Bush in 2004.

Just look at all of the states that recently had republicans take the state legislature for the first time in 100+ years. They've voted red for president pretty regularly, though many have serious D registration advantages.

[gratuitous]

7. The Democrat won the special election for governor in W Va?

Obviously, this is good news for Republicans to have lost the special election. I await the wisdom of the talking chuckleheads to explain it to me, but I am confident that by losing, this is really good news for Republicans.

[SheilaT]

8. Sometimes the actual registration numbers

are misleading.

I used to live in Kansas, a very Republican state, and you'd be surprised at how many people there who will be voting for a Democrat in every office -- if there is a Democrat actually running -- nonetheless registers as a Republican because voting in the Republican primaries are more important tot them than helping increase the number of registered Democrats.

I used to get into arguments with my Democratic friends there about this, and usually could not convince them that they shouldn't care who the Republicans actually nominate, but instead be working for Democrats from the outset. And all too often, in the end there would be no Democrat running for the office, in no small part because what Democrat would want to bother, when the registration numbers are so unbalanced.

The other thing that happens is that someone is from a family that has registered Republican in Kansas (or maybe Democratic in WV) for several generations, and even though the young person now sincerely prefers the other party, he will stay in the family one out of a sense of loyalty, or not wanting to upset Grandma, or some such.

[tabbycat31]

9. Democrats also outnumber Republicans in my county

And we are sure as hell not a Democratic county. It was close in 2008, but Chris Christie won it by 33 points.

Republicans are more reliable voters (sadly) and some registered Democrats probably registered as Democrats 40 years ago and have long since switched over to the GOP.

However independent voters swing elections.

[Blue Owl]

10. Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.

Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.

Hey Elected Democratic Officials -- is it starting to sink in yet???

No???

OK then we'll keep saying it over and over...

Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.
Republicans lie. Republicans cheat. Republicans steal.

[Leftist Agitator]

11. West Virginia has one of the oldest populations in the US.

And old people are much, much more racist than young people.

Older WV Democrats are Democrats because of labor, not because of they are progressive with respect to tolerance of minorities.

[HighContext]

12. Racist Democrats...could it be?

Believe it or not, I know a few.
Populists are not by definition, multiculti's.

[Freddie Stubbs]

13. Many of those Democrats are older voters who registered as Democrats years ago when

the Democratic party was not as liberal as it is now.

[Kingofalldems]

15. More liberal? Who says so?

[Freddie Stubbs]

21. For starters, the Democratic Party Platform didn't mention abortion right before 1976

[ieoeja]

18. When was the Democratic Party last less liberal than now? The Civil War? n/t

[Hippo_Tron]

20. Segregation was still legal 60 years ago

The Civil Rights Act/Voting Rights Act hadn't passed yet either. Major political figures weren't really at all Pro Choice until after Roe v Wade. And gay rights weren't even discussed until recently.

Socially, the Democratic Party is more liberal than it was when many of these people registered Dem. That's not the entire reason they vote Republican, though.

[ieoeja]

17. It really disappointed me when Obama shifted his primary campaign strategy.

In the early primaries Obama swept the rural regions, e.g. Las Vegas County was the only county he lost in Nevada and election night in New Hampshire saw him pulling away until late vote tallies started coming in from the cities.

But once it appeared he would be the candidate, he turned to the suburb/city coalition and get out the vote tactics.

And he decided to skip the upper south primaries pretty much altogether, presumably out of fear that a bad showing vs Clinton in the late primaries might cause the super-delegates to strip the nomination away from him.

More importantly, early on he was bringing a message to rural regions that a lot of areas hadn't heard in decades.

[WildEyedLiberal]

22. Maybe if the national party didn't write off the state every election cycle, we'd be competitive

As someone else mentioned, Big Coal is the big hurdle in WV. It provides so many jobs and people don't like the idea that environmentalists want to shut down the mines and kill their major industry. So it's the Dems' responsibility to explain how we can expand green energy without destroying jobs and livelihoods in Appalachia.