NYT: W. Va. Heads Down a Political Road Less Taken (Dems blindsided)

[DeepModem Mom]

West Virginia Heads Down a Political Road Less Taken

By JAMES DAO
Published: November 16, 2004


...."I'd love to say I saw it all coming," said Gov. Bob Wise, a Democrat who is stepping down at the end of the year. "But I thought we were going to win."

Drawn by a powerful conservatism on issues like abortion, gun control and same-sex marriage, and fed up with the state's shrinking population and perpetually high poverty rates, voters are leaving the Democratic Party in substantial numbers, party leaders say.

Many Democrats now agree with political analysts who say the state will go the way of Kentucky and Tennessee, with Democrats continuing to control local governments but struggling to hold onto the Legislature and facing uphill battles in presidential races....

***

To be sure, the Republicans did not score a clean sweep. The Democratic candidate for governor, Secretary of State Joe Manchin, won with more than 60 percent of the vote.

But in many ways, Mr. Manchin was the exception that proved the rule: He is one of the most conservative Democrats to win the job in decades, staunchly opposing abortion, gun control and gay marriage, and advocating a low-tax, pro-business economic platform....

***

(Democratic leaders)were deeply dismayed by Mr. Kerry's showing. Four years ago, Vice President Al Gore all but ignored the state, and his loss could be written off to neglect. This year, Democrats were out in force for months registering voters, recruiting volunteers and defending Mr. Kerry's positions on gun control, coal mining and steel tariffs. Yet the margin of defeat grew....

***

....the erosion of Democratic support is as much due to demographic shifts as to the religious right, analysts said. The eastern panhandle abutting Maryland, long a Republican stronghold, is the fastest-growing part of the state, becoming an affluent bedroom community to Washington. Mr. Bush won handily there.

At the same time, the coal fields of the south, a Democratic redoubt for decades, have steadily lost population as mining jobs have dried up and young people have moved away....


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/16/politics/16wvirginia.html

[amelia]

1. I'm from WV

.....and I'm really puzzled by the vote here, because I have talked to numerous people who never voted and almost all of them voted for Kerry. I have also talked to numerous former bush voters who have drastically changed their minds about bush and voted for Kerry. Maybe we need a recount here. I think one of the biggest problems that WV Democrats have is getting their people out to vote. Many people I also talked to, said they didn't vote for different reasons.

As for Justice McGraw being defeated, you would not believe the ads here. They were paid for by Don Blankenship CEO of Massey Energy (coal company).They were all lies but they were on 24/7 and just bombarded the airwaves here. Also on our local channel, wowk the CBS affiliate which is owned by WV Media, the owner of the station got on TV, during the 6:00 news, and did a negative "commentary" piece on Justice McGraw several times. He also pre-empted 2 NFL games on 2 different Sundays, to do hour long ads and propaganda against McGraw. The reason that Massey Energy went after McGraw was because they have a 60 million dollar lawsuit going up before the State Supreme court in a month or two. And McGraw is a judge who protects the citzens of WV. So once again, uninformed WV voters, have managed to pull all of us down with them because they are so susceptible to negative ads. I'm not saying they are uneducated in general, but they are drastically uneducated in political and moral issues.

One other thing, on 2 other local channels, wchs channel 8 and the fox channel 11, every night on the 11:00 news, they have a "commentary" from Fox-TV right wing pundit - Mark Harmon. And there is no "commentary" from the pundit on the left. Of course, Sinclair Broadcasting owns both of these channels. And no, they did not show Saving Private Ryan.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. Thanks, amelia, for your very interesting "on-the-ground" report --

[hollywood926]

3. I am originally from there, as well

and as I recall, WV was one of two states that went for Mondale in 1984 - that's how 'democrat' it was. (The other state was Mondale's home state of Minnesota).

I don't know what happened, other than the fact the repugnants have succeeded in convincing socially conservative people that gay marriage and abortion are more immediate concerns than wages and health care.

Bluh.

[davidinalameda]

4. I'm originally from WV as well

it looks like all the progressives have escaped from behind the Coal Curtain

[Just Me]

7. Me, too. Good synopsis.

I'm smack in the middle of rural WV. I have observed multiple vulnerabilities: poverty, nationalism (blind loyalty), evangelicism (sp?), and fear of the future. Unfortunately, it seems that the loyalty and trust of our people are easily betrayed by the right-wing propaganda machine.

[Moderator]

5. DeepModem Mom

Per DU copyright rules
please post only four
paragraphs from the
copyrighted news source.


Thank you.


DU moderator

[PCIntern]

6. Mr. Moderator:

The News Media seem intent upon making each paragraph exactly one sentence long. It's very clever of them.

just a comment - not a criticism...

[DeepModem Mom]

8. Sorry!

Got carried away -- I guess those single sentences are paragraphs --

[PCIntern]

9. It's not your fault DMM

It is the illiterate, tawdry press which is contributing to the dumbing-down of this society such that they write one sentence per para. That's why I can't read the local papers - it's bad for the eyes and the brain!

Your buddy,

PC

[DeepModem Mom]

11. Thanks, PC! And I think you're right --

what's with these strings of sentences in so many articles?

[GingerSnaps]

10. WV

My Great Aunt lives in WV she said the the mountain top mining has devastated the areas that it has been done in.

She is 90 years old and she mentioned that she knew that the election was stolen and * had been paying preachers in WV to tell their parishioners to vote for *.