Redstate

Posted at 1:03pm on May 14, 2008 Obamomentum, West Virginia Edition

He's Lost That Loving Feeling

By Dan McLaughlin

It's not every day you see the presumptive nominee lose a presidential primary in a swing state by 41 points (by contrast, despite a persistent protest vote faction, McCain hasn't actually lost a primary since Kansas and Louisiana on February 9), but that's exactly what happened to Barack Obama last night in West Virginia, and suggests pretty strongly why his campaign seems to be writing off the state for November.

Anyway, let's update the chart I've been running (last installment here) showing the popular vote trend since Obama's armor started to crack at the beginning of March. Here's the current chart:

Read On - there's much more...

Posted in 2008 | 2008 Polls | Barack Obama | polls | The Best Democratic Primary EVER | West Virginia — Comments (10)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 11:24am on May 13, 2008 Obama Chief Strategist Writing Off West Virginia and Michigan in November?

Well, He Still Has 55 States Left

By Dan McLaughlin

With Barack Obama expecting to get crushed in West Virginia today and having engaged in his protracted battle to keep Michigan's delegates from being seated at the convention, his chief strategist, David Axelrod - who not so long ago suggested that Obama would be planning to do without white working-class voters on the theory that they are Republicans anyway - seems to be implicitly conceding on MSNBC this morning that those two states are not part of Obama's plans for the fall election:

MSNBC 5/13/2008 8:37:10 AM ET:

AXELROD: There are a lot of states that are going to be pivotal in the general election...

QUESTION: But the big ones seems to me is West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Florida. That’s probably going to decide it, is it not? Those states?

AXELROD: I think we are going to do well in Pennsylvania. We’re going to do well in Ohio. I think we’re going to be competitive in Florida, as well.

I guess Obama's down to 55 states, now. And really, I wouldn't advise him to get too confident about Florida, either. Then again, maybe it's just time for him to blame another advisor.

Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | David Axelrod | Michigan | Obamafiles | West Virginia — Comments (11)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 10:09pm on May 11, 2008 Getting just a little testy about West Virginia and Kentucky, are we?

Dueling. Banjos. Ye gods, and little fishes.

By Moe Lane

Those two particular states? Just not down with the narrative. You know, I'm reminded of a poem... one which it would seem that the progressive movement has finally decided to take to heart:

The Solution

After the uprising of the 17th June
The Secretary of the Writers Union
Had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee
Stating that the people
Had forfeited the confidence of the government
And could win it back only
By redoubled efforts. Would it not be easier
In that case for the government
To dissolve the people
And elect another?

- Bertolt Brecht

Ironic, really: Appalachia has always been where the hard work's been. Coal, iron, steel... you can talk about the railroads, you can talk about the truckers and stevedores, you can talk about the textile mill workers and the garment makers; but this is where the labor movement - the real one, the true one, the one that existed before the 1960s mucked it up like everything else - built its spine. And if there really are two Americas, Appalachia's in the one that the progressives so often insist that they're worried about.

But I guess that we know how seriously to treat that pious assertion of theirs now, huh?

Moe Lane

Posted in 2008 | Appalachia | Kentucky | Obamafiles | West Virginia — Comments (33)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 12:18pm on Feb. 5, 2008 The Early Bird Gets The Mountaineers

By Dan McLaughlin

Jim Geraghty notes that West Virginia's party convention could give us the first results of the day as early as 12:30, awarding 18 delegates to the winner, with 9 more to be awarded at a primary in May:

Romney and Huckabee each plan to appeal personally for the 18 national delegates up for grabs at the convention, their campaigns said Monday.

Ron Paul announced earlier that he would also attend the Charleston convention. Front-runner John McCain is sending former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer to speak on his behalf.

Presumably this will be a Romney win, but given the similarities between the GOP electorates in Arkansas and West Virginia, it could be an early test of Huckabee's continuing ability to draw support.

Posted in 2008 | 2008 Presidential Campaign | Mike Huckabee | Mitt Romney | West Virginia — Comments (1)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 6:30pm on Nov. 5, 2007 Lobbyists, contractors pony up for embattled Mollohan

By MajorityAP

Constituents desert 13-term Democrat Congressman

While West Virginians appear reluctant to part with dollars to support their embattled Congressman, U.S. Representative Alan Mollohan, lobbyists and federal contractors are more than willing to pick up the slack, a review of Federal Elections Commission (FEC) records by the Majority Accountability Project (www.majorityap.com) has shown.

In what may be unprecedented in Congressional fundraising history, Mollohan did not report a single contribution from the Mountain State for the three-month period ending June 30, 2007. During that same time - between April 1 and June 30, 2007 - federal lobbyists gave Mollohan more than $40,340.00.

Since the beginning of 2007, federal lobbyists and lobby firms contributed at least $67,143 to the 13-term West Virginia Democrat. Contractors and others receiving federal money added an additional $82,800 to Mollohan’s re-election committee.

Read on . . .

Posted in Congress | West Virginia | WV-01 — Comments (6) / Email this page » / Read More »