Tag: West Virginia '08

Barack Obama didn't win a single county in West Virginia. Here's the CNN county map. She's ahead by 41 points.

With 97% of the vote in, Hillary is leading Obama 67% to 26%. John Edwards has 7%.

West Virginia has 28 pledged and 11 unpledged delegates. It has 5 electoral votes and last voted for a Democrat in 1996. More...

Update: Here is Hillary's Speech.

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Hillary Clinton's West Virginia victory speech is about to start. I'll be live-blogging with continuous updates. Feel free to live-blog your reactions in the comments.

9:06 pm ET: Here she is. She's by herself. Thank you West Virginia. Like the song says, "It's Almost Heaven." I am so greatful for this overwhelming vote of confidence. [More...]

Update: First laugh of the night: On CNN, Donna Brazile says tonight is not a loss for Obama, it's just a win for Hillary. Do they bother to think before they open their mouths?

MSNBC says the exit polls show it was Obama's poorest performance in any primary so far. Neither Gore nor Kerry took W. VA. Bill Clinton did. Translation: John McCain just picked up 5 electoral votes if Obama is the nominee.

Update: The media is fixated on pledged delegates, talking about how close Obama is to winning the magic number. They don't want to mention that the 800 superdelegates can change their mind any time until August. They sure talk about it when one jumps from Hillary to Obama. As long as Hillary stays in, the superdelegates can consider electability in November. Obama has not shown he can win PA, Ohio, FL and those are crucial in November. [More...]

Update: The first discussion of West Virgina I've heard is happening with Terry McCauliffe talking to Chris Matthews. He says Hillary will win W. Va. by 2:1 and by possibly 200,000 votes. He expects she will be ahead in the popular vote once KY and Puerto Rico vote, counting the 2.3 million votes in FL and MI. He says she will give the best speech ever tonight, he's seen a copy. He says the superdelgates will go her way once they realize she's better to beat McCain. He still expects the race to be decided in June.

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The media is focused on Barack Obama. Even his flag pin is more important than the West Virginia primary. MSNBC is running Obama's delegate numbers at the bottom of the screen. Fox News is reporting on various state elections. My local news is talking about Roy Romer's endorsement of Obama today. [More...]

The early West Virginia exit polls are out from the Associated Press. What stands out to me:

If they had to choose, seven in 10 voters said they'd prefer that their candidate wins the Democratic presidential nomination, even if the race continues for months. A quarter said they'd prefer the race ends as soon as possible, even if their candidate loses the nomination.

...Barely a third of Clinton supporters say they'd vote for Obama over John McCain in a November matchup. As many claim they'd vote for Republican John McCain and a quarter said they would not vote for president. If that horse race were Clinton vs. McCain, half of Obama backers say they'd vote for Clinton, about three in 10 say they'd back McCain and the rest would stay home.

The voters are 95% white, 50% rural and 40% are over age 60. 70% do not have college degrees.

I recall supporters of Barack Obama claiming profusely at one time that the pledged delegate vote is the will of the people and the superdelegates should accede to it. Will they complain about this?

Sen. Jay Rockefeller and Rep. Nick Rahall, two of West Virginia's superdelegates backing Barack Obama, say they're sticking with him despite polls showing Hillary Clinton a heavy favorite in the state.

"I view my role as a superdelegate as one that takes the long-range view of what is in the best interest of our party and our country," Rahall said Thursday.

Rockefeller said he's sticking with his conscience.

No, I didn't think so. Any more than they complained that Teddy Kennedy and John Kerry were going against the will of the voters in their state.

BTD referenced MyDD's post by Jerome on West Virginia earlier. I have more to say about it. I want to highlight his lead-in:

I'd humbly suggest, to all the Obama supporters that join us here on this blog, that if you can't stand the heat of the West Virginia primary, you stay out of the kitchen. While I'm at it, I also suggest that you refrain from accusations against West Virginians as being racist, or you'll join the other 6 previous users here, whose offensive comments were deleted on Friday, and that were themselves banned from the site. ...You don't like that? Fine, its a big wide blogosphere, go find a blog that has its head in the sand. Are the ground rules understood?

CNN just flashed a poll showing Hillary ahead with 66% of the vote. It said a big W. VA win will show that "a lot of Democrats aren't ready to get on Obama's bandwagon."

CNN says W.Va. used to be solidly Democratic until 2000 when George Bush took it. Social issues are big there. Guns are even bigger. The LA Times also says W. Va could spell trouble for Obama in November.[More...]