WV went for Dukakis in 1988 but not Gore in 2000, why?

[Hippo_Tron]

This makes absolutely no sense to me. I know that Gore ran a poor campaign, but Dukakis ran a worse one. And Gore is from the south, Dukakis was a "taxachusetts liberal". Basically, WV has been a solid dem state for a while but all of a sudden it is going GOP on the national level, why is this?

[Erika]

1. Who knows?

The South is one weird group.

[The Straight Story]

2. The inbreds got to voting age

And not being able to think straight they voted like idiots (and yeah, I have roots in WV...).

[Hippo_Tron]

3. By the inbreds, you mean the hitler youth

Err, sorry I meant Young Republicans.

[Township75]

11. ^^^ "Democrats" like this are why we lose WV.

In addition to gun control, and the fact that WV lives off of coal, and Gore's environmental record wasn't going to help matters.

[autorank]

4. I like W.VA. They elect Byrd, again & again. Here's an idea...

...If you want the facts you have to go to TruthIsAll, who I'm sure knows.

If you were born from 1920-1930, you were between 58-68 years old. You remembered the great depression, you remembered that FDR cared about you and, while not perfect, did just as much as he could for you. You remember the camaraderie of the Depression era. As a result, YOU VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS.

In 2000, those Dukakis voters were between 80 an 90 years old or, more likely, deceased. (By 2004, they were 84-94 years old, bad news for us.)

That's why. TIA will give me continuing education units for this post if he sees it.

[Robert Oak]

5. exceptional point

the ones who remember what it was like before FDR's programs
have died off...

so here are their children trying to undo the very thing that
raised up their families and the middle class.

[WI_DEM]

6. Changing voter patterns

It happens. It should be pointed out that Dukakis was the candidate who began forging the current democratic electoral base. He won Wisconsin for the Dems for the first time since '76; He won Iowa for the Dems for the first time since '64; He won Oregon for the Dems for the first time since '64; and he won Washington State for the Dems for the first time since '68. He also came very, very close to winning California and Illinois for the Democrats for the first time since 1964. These states used to be considered swing states which lean RED, now they are (with the exception of Iowa) generally Blue states in presidential elections, and Iowa would probably be considered a swing state which leans Blue.

West Virginia has gone the other way. After being one of the most Democratic states in presidential elections in 2000 Bush campaigned hard there on the issue that Gore was an environmental extremist--and of course W. VA is a coal state and Bush was able to convince many people who usually voted Democratic in presidential elections to buy that. Gore also ignored W.VA until it was too late, the same for his homestate of Tn. In 2004, Bush was able to consolidate his 2000 gains in WVA by running against Kerry on the same general theme. Kerry actually lost WVA by a larger margin than Gore did.

[hollowdweller]

14. Clinton Passed AWB and Brady Bill and cracked down on FFL's

West Virginians had to be SHOWN that the Democrats would pass gun control before they voted Republican. That is the difference between Dukkais and Gore.

[fasttense]

7. Self delete. n/t

[Lasher]

8. Guns

Another factor is, Dubya convinced many West Virginians that Democrats were going to take their guns away. This is a big deal to many West Virginians, who have voted Republican due to this single issue.

[Hubert Flottz]

9. Guns, Gawd, and GOPer...

propagandists with unlimited funds!

[JeremyL]

10. Many reasons. Aside from the fact that memory fails with age...

First, to the person that said the inbreds got voting age, come on down here and get a "County" foot up your ass, son.

Now, as for te reasons why WV s going to the GOP is simply because of their ongoing strategy. The God, Guns, Gays, Morals, etc stuff they play off of. Fox News is a Neoconservative operation and it has 2 of the most watched shows across the nation. People of WV like O'reilly and Hannity, and they buy into everything they say. Also, WV is very religious, so Pat Robertson and many other televangelist have their forked tongue whispering in the ears of West Virginians. The Republicans like Don Blankenship of Massey Coal showed he was willing to spend millions of dollars to dupe West Virginians, and he also was the one to introduce Rush Limbaugh to Southern West Virginia. And more conservative radio talk shows are popping up in places like Mingo County.

The GOPs strategy is good, but it is being combatted as I speak. Soon, their grasp will fall.

[Hokie]

12. 3 words

Guns, Bibles, Coal

Bush (really Rove) used them to advantage. Also, the media in the state (Sinclair and Clear Channel) are VERY PRO REPUKE.

[hollowdweller]

13. guns for sure in my part of WV.

While the Democrats are known as the gun control party, it had actually been a LONG time since any federal gun control legislation passed. However after Clinton passed the various legislation relating to guns, and then Gore proposed a national gun owners ID card that killed him here. Also the fact that Kerry ran back to DC to vote on a bill that was considered anti gun during the campaign screwed our chances.

Guns played an important part in WV history, labor wars, subsistence living, and the majority of people live so far out in the country if you were threatened the police would never get there in time to save you. Hence the gun issue has turned our state to red unfortunately.