Will Obama Lose West Virginia, Kentucky Because He's Black?

Given every metric, Barack Obama is obviously well positioned to win the Democratic presidential nomination. And yet, on Tuesday, he's going to lose the West Virginia primary by a very large margin. A week later, he's going to lose the Kentucky primary by a whole lot of percentage points, too.

Polling is a little sketchy, but Hillary Clinton should win West Virginia by about 40 points (Bill Clinton suggested the other day HRC's margin could be as high as 80 points). Polls in Kentucky point to a Clinton victory in the 35-point range.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[harriscrl3]

He'll lose because there is a lot of FALSE information being spread about him and he doesnt have the time to spend time there for people to get to know him. When people get to know him he does better unfortunately he is only one person and time is running out. I think people want to label these people as racist to make it easier not to say there is not some sterotypes there but I think these people are just uninoformed and in that kind of situation GOP and whoever can spread lies and misinformation about Obama and unfortuantely get away with it than they can do in other states where people are more informed.

Carol

[BadCompany]

Is racism the reason that Obama lost in CA, NY, PA, OH, & MA as well?

[ronspri]

Keep pressing your positions and blow these people off for the most part. These are the same people that are largely authoritarian and in fear of much. They aren't my kind anyway. I'm not heartbroken you aren't on my side. That I am different from Rush or Sean or these people is something that reinforces my ability to sleep at night.

[bessie1]

Yes, just as he won other states because he is black.

[notamarin]

Yeah, those two things are exactly the same. Come on.

[mcthorogood]

I see it now, Tina Turner's latest hit breaks the charts!

"What does RACE have to do with it?"

[getoffmedz]

"Will Obama Lose West Virginia, Kentucky Because He's Black?"

yep

[sheraz]

From Daily Kos. http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/4/26/133958/391

" I asked about Obama. "Obama couldn"t win."

Why not?

"Race," Patrick said matter-of-factly. "I"ve talked to people"a woman who was chair of county elections last year, she said she wouldn"t vote for a black man." Patrick said he wouldn"t vote for Obama either.

Why not?

"Race. I really don"t want an African-American as President. Race."

What about race?

"I thought about it. I think he would put too many minorities in positions over the white race. That"s my opinion. After 1964, you saw what the South did." He meant that it went Republican. "Now what caused that? Race. There"s a lot of white people that just wouldn"t vote for a colored person. Especially older people. They know what happened in the sixties. Under thirty"they don"t remember. I do. I was here."

Yes, the person he interviewed really said "colored person".............in 2008.

[ProgressiveNotLiberal]

Yes and yes. Sad, but true. They can be won over though, but not with Hillary out there pushing their buttons. The funny thing is, they wouldn't vote for her either if there was good ol' boy candidate like them.I imagine half of them have fooled themselves into thinking they are really voting for Bill. I can say this because I grew up in the area, have family in the area and I know my "peers".

[zull2]

If Obama does lose those two states due to racism, then it's also quite possible that in November, those very same voters who voted against the black man would vote against the woman, too. That is just how racists think...sexism isn't an issue to them, it's just how their heads have been programmed over the generations. They believe in a pecking order, and to them, the only thing acceptable in a leader is that he must be a white man. After that, they really don't have too many more ideas. Downside to not having college educations and working service industry jobs, and all that.

[jupitor]

With byrd as their congressman do you think they will vote for a black man? What votes are there will be for Mccain! A good old boy! Hillary will when what Demacrates are there, and yell at the top of her lungs " See I win in these kind of states". No she didn'lt! they are voteing for the Good Old Boy Bill Clinton, not even Hillary! It's just the way they are! they have been left in the past in a lot of ways! Untill they join the rest of the world, and the old are out and the new in----------Those are good old boy territory's. Some day maybe they will catch up with the rest of the world! But good old boy Byrd would have to pass on and give them no choice to vote for a younger more up to date fellow that will bring them into the 20th century with us. byrd has held them back in a lot of area's! Not that he's a bad man, as he was against the Iraq war! Just that he's against change! so there really hasn't been a lot of it down in those area's. My sister in law lived there all her life, and she liked obama, but said not likely many of them ol white men and women would vote for a black man!

[bmermaid]

If Obama loses some votes because of racism, and I'm sure he does, there is really nothing he can do about it. But I think racists are a smaller, and less socially acceptable, minority these days.
There are also sexists that would never vote for a woman.
There are also people that would never vote for a man as old as John McCain is.
All 3 candidates have built in handicaps to thier run for president.
But in spite of prejudices, it looks like more and more people are at least aware of the main issues of contention in this contest.
Also, by November at least, more people will be personally affected by the Recession and many other disasters that the incompatency of the Bush Administration have caused, and will get out and vote for something better.

[OriginalScreenName]

I would say that racists are the minority with you, however a vast majority of them have concentrated themselves in places like West Virginia. I've spent some significant time in small town WV, and collectively they are the most openly racist, sexist, anti-semitic, bigoted people I've ever met. Never before in my life have I felt so absolutely drowned in hypocrisy. They would take an entire mountainside and clear it to put a HUGE cross on it, and every one lives were centered around the church, however they were the most unchristian people I've ever met - INCLUDING the pastors. In fact Rev Wright has nothing on the two pastors I met while out there. The worst part about it was that the people they hated were nowhere to be found, yet they blamed all their problems on them. Granted, there definitely were people that disagreed with the spoken sediment, but they seemed almost ashamed of it and carried a "Get me outta here" vibe to them. And I thought it was completely odd that they would utter the types of things that came out of their mouth in front of a total stranger, an outsider and that they never picked up my unease with it.

It will be a cold day in h*ll before I go back to WV. To answer the article title: yes, Obama will lose WV and the *only* reason is because he is black.