Mountain State Matters

Now that we’re a couple of days into May, the WV Democratic primary is getting closer. For the first time in memory, the primaries are actually stretching on this long and actually matter. That’s not something West Virginians, as well as most of the country outside of Iowa and New Hampshire, are used to.

But who will win West Virginia? A lot of the media are becoming skeptical over Sen. Obama’s ability to win out over white, working class voters. That might be a problem for him in the Mountain State where 94.6 percent of the population is white, and the per capita income was $19,417 (in 2006).

For a while I figured both candidates would have handicaps in West Virginia: Clinton for her sex and Obama for his race. However, most people I talked to didn’t have a problem with the fact that Hillary’s a woman. Waiting in line at a Dollar General in Mullens, WV several months ago, I heard an older man say he was going to vote for Hillary. Why? Because he liked Bill Clinton’s administration, and figured Hillary was pretty much running it anyway.

No matter who takes West Virginia, the question of who can get the most votes in a general election is still up in the air. In a recent Wall Street Journal article, one of John McCain’s advisers was quoted as saying:

“Sen. Obama doesn’t appear to have the ability to hold the traditional Democratic coalition together as well as Sen. Clinton might,” says Charlie Black, a top adviser to Republican presidential candidate John McCain. “On the other hand, he runs much better with independent voters than Sen. Clinton does.”

On May 13, I guess we’ll see if WV has more traditional Democrats or independents.