HuffPost: Keith Judd, Texas Inmate, Gets 40 Percent Of Votes Against Obama In West Virginia Democratic Primary

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

Is there something I'm missing about Obama? I mean, I don't always agree with the guy politically, but I just don't understand all the anger toward him.

I could explain his issue in West Virginia, but Major Harris would yell at me.

[AsburySkinsFan]

i wasn't faulting you. not at all.

No worries, just clarifying, I was just doing the quick cut and paste for the point.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

#2 West Virginia is about a red as red gets

That's utterly false.

I'm 38 and grew up in WV. In my lifetime, we have had two Republican governors and no Republican senators. The Republicans have never come close to controlling the Senate or House of Delegates. We have sent, I believe, two Republicans to the House of Representatives. We voted for Carter in 1980. We voted for Dukakis in 1988.

[Major Harris]

I could explain his issue in West Virginia' date=' but Major Harris would yell at me.[/quote']

no i won't.

go ahead an explain it. but be sure to hit on all of it, not just the part that fascinates you.

[Teller]

#1 how many people are going out to vote for Obama in the primaries?

It's a shame the left doesn't care about other races. Wait...no its not.

#2 West Virginia is about a red as red gets

Sure, with roughly 51-32 dem vs. rep registration, and even voting for Dukakis in 1988. Not to mention a dem governor, two dem senators, two of three dem representantives, and both houses of the legislature controlled by dems. But yeah, other then that, they're red as hell.

#3 people have a long tradition of choosing Barabas.

Because I respect you, I'm giving you a mulligan on this one. Wow.

You're welcome though, lefties, for the perfect opportunity to start your whining about race for this election.

Sincerely,

Faux-News fed racist lemming

[twa]

We're a third world nation. Our election process is not much better.

How long before we have Putin-like democracy?

~Bang

We need to go back to only allowing property owners to vote....and add a poll tax

Next thing ya know we will elect a Kenyan

I blame public schooling......and texting

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

Obama was staggeringly unpopular in WV in 2008 too. Hillary got 70 percent of the vote against him and won every county.

[AsburySkinsFan]

Sure, with roughly 51-32 dem vs. rep registration, and even voting for Dukakis in 1988. Not to mention a dem governor, two dem senators, two of three dem representantives, and both houses of the legislature controlled by dems. But yeah, other then that, they're red as hell.

West Virginia is just like Kentucky, in that there are tons of Democrats in local and state offices but they will NOT vote for a Dem for President. I've said it before, I live in a county where you don't stand a chance of getting elected if you're not a Democrat, and yet in the last presidential election the county voted as Red as an apple.

Because I respect you, I'm giving you a mulligan on this one. Wow.

First read it for what it says, not for what you want it to say.

---------- Post added May-9th-2012 at 09:31 AM ----------

That's utterly false.

I'm 38 and grew up in WV. In my lifetime' date=' we have had two Republican governors and no Republican senators. The Republicans have never come close to controlling the Senate or House of Delegates. We have sent, I believe, two Republicans to the House of Representatives. We voted for Carter in 1980. We voted for Dukakis in 1988.[/quote']

See what I wrote in response to H_H. BTW you do realize that 1988 was a loooong time ago right?

[Dan T.]

Hey, let's not short-change this Keith Judd guy. He must be pretty resourceful to run such a successful campaign from a Texas prison cell.

[Major Harris]

i do think that all of the (d) after last names in wv is misleading. it doesn't make us a liberal state....as a (d) in wv is often just an ® who correctly guesses that with an ® he stands no shot. not sure how it became that way....

[AsburySkinsFan]

i do think that all of the (d) after last names in wv is misleading. it doesn't make us a liberal state....as a (d) in wv is often just an ® who correctly guesses that with an ® he stands no shot. not sure how it became that way....

Like I said, it is the same way in Kentucky. We have a Democrat for governor and I have a Democrat Congressman, but if anyone thinks that means that Kentucky is a Blue state (other than the grass of course) then they just aren't paying attention.

[G.A.C.O.L.B.]

Thinking about announcing my candidacy.

[Popeman38]

#2 West Virginia is about a red as red gets

Say what? West Virginia is a red state?

Republican - 1972, 1984, 2000, 2004, 2008

Democrat - 1976, 1980, 1988, 1992, 1996

Of the last 10 presidential elections, it has split between R & D. If that defines a state as "red as red gets", then I guess almost every state is red. Amazing a Democrat has ever been elected president.

[USS Redskins]

So the democrats in West VA are racists for not liking Obama. Makes sense.

[ncr2h]

Any Democrat who opposes Obama has my respect, even if we disagree on many issues. Lord knows there are many, many reasons for members of both parties to vote him out.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

no i won't.

go ahead an explain it. but be sure to hit on all of it, not just the part that fascinates you.

WV is the last true Dixiecrat/Yellow Dog Democrat state. What makes this fascinating to me is that West Virginia has practically no black residents, practically no history of slavery, and a very limited history of segregation in the few areas that do have a black population. WV is 94 percent white and less than 4 percent black. It's a state that culturally does not do well with outsiders or "others" and is incredibly slow to change.

It's still the last state to consistently elect "conservative Democrats." Joe Manchin (a freaking coward I should add) might as well be a Republican at this point.

A so-called "war on coal" is possibly a factor, but coal has been under attack for 40 years and makes up an increasingly smaller percentage of WV's economic base. If anything, natural gas is the key to WV's future and this administration has done nothing to slow down that growth. WV's largest employer right now is Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart employees are not voting against Obama because of his stance on coal. That certainly doesn't explain why Hillary crushed him 2.5 to 1 in '08.

What I find most odd about this that WV historically always votes for incumbents, and that is especially true about Democratic incumbents.

I'm not sure West Virginians are "racist" in the sense that it is usually defined in this country. There are no real power dynamics at play because the typical West Virginian goes through their day with very little possibility of encountering a black person unless they live or work in basically one of three areas (downtown Charleston, downtown Wheeling, or Charles Town). I think West Virginians just don't trust "others."

I'm fairly certain that Hillary Clinton would have easily won WV in the 2008 general and would easily win WV today. The hatred of Obama there is not completely about policy.

[Teller]

Say what? West Virginia is a red state?

Republican - 1972, 1984, 2000, 2004, 2008

Democrat - 1976, 1980, 1988, 1992, 1996

You know 1996 was a long time ago, right?

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

#1 how many people are going out to vote for Obama in the primaries?

PS

Primary day in WV is election day, because there are basically no Republican primaries.

My dad won the primary for school board yesterday in his county. And that means he is on the school board because he will have no Republican opponent. This true for something like 90 percent of state races and has been historically so. West Virginians vote on primary day because that's the day your vote matters.

When I lived there, I rarely voted in November except during presidential contests, because at that point, it's a bunch of uncontested races.

---------- Post added May-9th-2012 at 09:07 AM ----------

You know 1996 was a long time ago, right?

Hillary would have easily won WV in 2008, I think.

---------- Post added May-9th-2012 at 09:11 AM ----------

Can you switch parties and vote in the WV primary?

Seems the GOP race has been sewn up for several weeks, what better way to pass the time than to manipulate the process and feed false info to the people?

~Bang

That would work except West Virginia has no Republicans. Primary day is election day, because whoever wins the Democratic primaries for the state offices, wins that office because - generally - they will run unopposed in November (or they might as well run unopposed). It's kind of the way the entire south worked until the 70s.

[Major Harris]

The hatred of Obama there is not completely about policy.

no, it's not. it's not completely about any one thing. and while your reasoning about policy makes sense, it doesn't change the fact that he is viewed largely as wanting to take down coal.

[Teller]

Hillary would have easily won WV in 2008' date=' I think.[/quote']

That's possible. And while I don't dispute that race is a factor in some states, including WV, I have difficulty making the jump to "everyone in WV is an idiot racist, and opposes Obama because he's black." I mean, his plan is to eviscerate the remaining major industry in the state. If he gets one vote in WV it's too many, IMHO.

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

no, it's not. it's not completely about any one thing. and while your reasoning about policy makes sense, it doesn't change the fact that he is viewed largely as wanting to take down coal.

More so than Bill Clinton who WV loved? That's what I don't get. His policies towards coal are more or less mainstream Democratic positions. Why is he so easy to vilify on this subject?

Jimm Carter restricted surface mining and he won WV over Reagan during one of the biggest landslides in history. And that was back when Big Coal had incredible power.

[Major Harris]

More so than Bill Clinton who WV loved? That's what I don't get. His policies towards coal are more or less mainstream Democratic positions. Why is he so easy to vilify on this subject?

it the alternative energy movement / search to replace coal the same now as it was in 1992?

[Lombardi's_kid_brother]

it the alternative energy movement the same now as it was in 1992?

Is the Coal industry the same now as it was in 1992?

I'm not sure why Coal is dominating the discussion in WV right now. Coal in WV is dead within 20 years regardless of who is president. The future is natural gas, and - if anything - Washington has facilitated that boom.

I just find it hard to believe that an industry that has been dying for 50 years and has been restricted by nearly every politician not named Reagan or George W. Bush for 40 years is the reason that an inmate is getting 40 percent of the vote against Obama.

[TheGoodBits]

Since it's now the topic of this thread, I believe a lot of the decrease in Dem support in WV has coincided with the decrease in power of unions. WV was and is one of the most unionized states in the country, and 30-40 years ago the Democratic party was the party of the unions. More recently, union has become a bad word in national politics it seems, and the support there has not been as strong.

Oh, and they're also a bunch of racist hicks.

[Major Harris]

I just find it hard to believe that an industry that has been dying for 50 years and has been restricted by nearly every politician not named Reagan or George W. Bush for 40 years is the reason that an inmate is getting 40 percent of the vote against Obama.

no one has said that's the only reason. no one at all. most of us have even said race plays a role. never good enough, it has to be all about race, right?