Edwards Gets 7% in West Virginia, more than 3 months after exiting the race

[jsamuel]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/elections/2008/results/wv/401999/full.html

Hillary Clinton 81,673 64%
Barack Obama 37,417 29%
John Edwards 9,035 7%

34% in

This shows, like in OK, AR, and TN, Edwards does well in rural America. For those of you who question why all of a sudden he is getting these votes compared to other states: His name was taken off the ballot in many of the previous states (including NC). ST states like OK, AR, and TN didn't have time to take his name off the ballot.

[Renew Deal]

1. Wow

Good for Edwards

[pamela]

2. K & R

Go John!

[Carrieyazel]

3. Obama is closer to Edwards than he is to Hillary!

Edwards, who bowed out months ago. This is making Obama look even worse.

[thoughtcrime1984]

7. It's making 7% of WV voters look like 2 things that end in -ist

Where else would Edwards get 7% at this point, having been out of the race for months? I know you take glee in watching Obama "lose", but you are off base.

[lastliberalintexas]

13. Not necessarily racist or sexist

If my state were to vote tomorrow for our primary, I would vote for neither Clinton nor Obama. I will vote for them in the general when it matters, but for now the primary is my time to "voice" my displeasure with the 2 centrist to moderate candidates we have.

[MattBaggins]

46. He is lucky as hell

this contest is ending so that he doesn't have to worry about Hillary getting 18 blowouts like he did to her.

[NJmaverick]

4. Anyone but that black guy! Go WV, do yourself proud!

[jsamuel]

5. Don't write off Edwards supporters as racists and misogynists, thanks.

It was statements like that which used John Edwards' race and sex against him.

[thoughtcrime1984]

9. Where else has he gotten 7% in the last 2 months??

Give me a break, seriously. I like JE, but I'm not buying that at face value.

[NJmaverick]

11. Good for you!

[thoughtcrime1984]

20. edit

figured out what you meant.

[jsamuel]

15. OK, I think he had something like that in TN and AR

However, he was taken off the ballot in many states including NC. That is why the votes have been 51-49 and 55-45 recently.

[depakid]

37. Where else has he been on the ballot?

Almost nowhere....

[NJmaverick]

10. Why wasn't he getting these numbers in other states?????

Seems to me he picked up the anyone but the woman or the black man vote.

[jsamuel]

12. He was taken off the ballot in many states including NC

[NJmaverick]

16. Many is not all

[jsamuel]

19. And he got 10% in OK and large numbers in AR and TN

there are more I am sure

All these states have something in common. RURAL PEOPLE

[thoughtcrime1984]

24. Super Tuesday states, he had JUST exited the race

I understand those votes a bit more than this, months later.

[jsamuel]

26. and ST states didn't have time to take his name off the ballot

[theHandpuppet]

41. John has always had strong support here in WV

Had he not dropped out early, I think he could have made it a real horse race here. I'm glad to see he did well even now and have the greatest respect for John and Elizabeth.

:hi:

[mrbluto]

43. Because it couldn't mean they don't like...

... the mildly centrist democrats now running.

Nope.

It simply must mean that they're racist.

A vote for anyone other than Obama is aracist vote!

[patrice]

6. Kewl!! Something to look forward to tomorrow morning. nt

:bounce:

[greguganus]

8. Hillary should be thankful David Duke's not running in WV. n/t

[AllentownJake]

14. Shame it wasn't 15%

He'd have some people to lobby for his positions at the convention than.

Oh yeah an Hillary would net 4 delgates.

[Austinitis]

22. That would be even worse for Obama in Nov n/t

[Austinitis]

23. Because he really couldn't pull voters then

[AllentownJake]

27. Two points

If you want to add something. Hit edit and than change your post. No need to reply to yourself.

Second- You seem gleeful that Obama might fail in November. :wtf:

[Austinitis]

17. Politico Talks about this

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0508/10300.html


2) The Edwards protest vote. John Edwards, the former North Carolina senator who ended his Democratic presidential campaign in January, remains on the ballot in West Virginia. And he polled at 4 percent in the Suffolk poll, popular primarily with men and independents.

If Edwards gets that much of the vote or more, it could add to the night’s woes for Obama and presage problems for him in a general election matchup with McCain, particularly in rural states such as West Virginia.

Both men have courted independent voters, whom Obama needs to offset votes he’s likely to lose from southern white Democrats reluctant to support a black candidate.

“There are people who for some reason won’t vote for Obama,” said David Paleologos, who directed the Suffolk poll. Edwards’ poll showing, combined with Obama’s relatively low favorability numbers (44 percent favorable and 41 percent unfavorable, compared with Clinton’s 70 percent favorable and 21 percent unfavorable ratings) suggest to Paleologos that “Obama may have to write off West Virginia come November.”

The poll also found 40 percent of respondents would vote for the Democratic nominee if their preferred candidate lost, while 23 percent said they would cross the ballot to vote for McCain.

[pettypace]

18. Edwards would have defeated Clinton by 50 points in WV

in a head to head.

Almost wish we could've seen that.

[rug]

21. Will Obama break 30%?

[Evergreen Emerald]

25. Clinton is doing wonderfully.

I see that you are all trying to minimize the win by suggesting that those who do not support Obama are racist.

[jsamuel]

29. I am so tired of Edwards voters being called racists and sexist simply for voting for him instead of

Clinton or Obama.

[FatDave]

38. OK, look...

I voted for Edwards in the Iowa caucus. And I am a white male. And I was called both racist and sexist for supporting a white man, even though that had nothing to do with it.

But now, when he's been out of the race for 4 months, and he gets 7% of the vote in an area where sexism and racism isn't exactly out of character, well, Occam's razor and all that.

Oh, and according to MSNBC exit polls, something like 20% of WV voters said race was a very important consideration, and something like 86% of them voted for Hillary. So, that kind of supports the theory too, doesn't it?

But I guess it's not OK to say such things. Sure, you can say that Obama can't get the white vote (even conveniently leaving off the "in Apalachia" clause) but you can't suggest that those same voters may actually be voting based on race, even if there is evidence of just that.

[Solomon]

30. That is not what they have been doing. They are talking about 7%

of the voters, and they said sexist as well as racist. Would you deny that at least 7% of the voters are racist and/or sexist? I don't think so.

[pamela]

32. Or maybe 7% of the voters in WV CARE ABOUT POVERTY!

That's why I voted for JE after he dropped out. I love the idea of a black or female president but I care about the issue of poverty more. Seems reasonable to me that a significant number of folks in WV would care about it, too.

[Two Americas]

42. obviously

The most impoverished state in the Union, and the man whose campaign was about fighting poverty. But who here at DU cares about poverty? We are busy with symbolic gestures - promoting tokens to prove how enlightened we are, so we can then wallow in hatred. Priorities, you know.

[waiting for hope]

45. James Lowe was from Wise, VA -

A stone's throw from the border of West Virginia and I concur with your statement. :)

[SammyWinstonJack]

47. "Or maybe 7% of the voters in WV CARE ABOUT POVERTY!

:thumbsup:

[Elspeth]

God, I miss Edwards. *sigh*

:(

[Catchawave]

28. K&R for Johnny Reid !

[balantz]

31. YEAH!!!

K&R!!!

All the way to the White House John Edwards!

:evilgrin:

He would have been a great president.

[benny05]

33. It's possible he will get 8%

Lunchbucket dems--mainly workers who don't have a college degree and very worried about kitchen table issues.

I think it's great because it puts both candidates back on notice to talk about anti-poverty plans.

[lastliberalintexas]

36. You said kitchen table issues

:loveya:

For some reason, that phrase always brings Truman to mind. Probably because it was a phrase that my grandaparents used to use, and they were huge Truman fans.

And I agree that poverty issues being ignored by the Big 2 might have helped lead to such a protest vote.

[ecstatic]

34. kick

[New Dawn]

35. Note how the CNN propaganda page does not mention John Edwards

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/state/#WV

Strangely, it does mention Ron Paul for the GOP who got only 5% of the vote.

[anigbrowl]

39. Ron Paul hasn't suspended his campaign, whereas Edwards did

Just pointing out the facts. Paul is technically still running.

[JoFerret]

40. Interesting

Don't know what to make of it. But interesting.
(My unsupported opinion - Edwards could win in November very easily if he were the candidate.)

[liberalla]

44. I'm still sad he didn't go farther. I hope he gets a job in the next admin.

He was my number one choice, since Gore didn't run.