West Virginia Primary: Clinton Expected To Win

West Virgina Democrats go to the polls Tuesday, where Sen. Hillary Clinton is expected to win easily over rival Barack Obama. Clinton has been campaigning hard in West Virginia, despite the fact that most Democrats now believe that Barack Obama will be their party's nominee:

The two candidates campaigned across West Virginia on Monday, with Mrs. Clinton's motorcade driving more than two hours through the winding hills of Appalachia, where she courted a relatively small number of voters in hopes of driving up her expected margin of victory. She is counting on a big victory to impress undecided superdelegates, the party leaders who will most likely decide the nomination.

Mrs. Clinton also wants to show strength in Kentucky and West Virginia -- states Democrats have struggled to carry in presidential elections -- not to mention, advisers say, pointing up what the Clinton campaign sees as the weakness of the Obama coalition. But advisers acknowledged that even if she won those states by wide margins, it was probably too late to change the dynamic of the nominating contest in her favor.

Poll Closing Times: Polls in West Virginia will be open from 6:30am to 7:30pm ET.

Pledged Delegates: 28 pledged delegates are at stake on Tuesday.

Latest Polling: A Suffolk University poll Monday showed Hillary Clinton with a 36-point lead over Barack Obama. Clinton leads Obama 60 to 24.

Comments

[KQuarksSuperKollider]

James Carville had the best comment so far today. He said "anybody in the non-lobotomized world thinks Obama is the likely nominee".

[PAposter]

Al Franken is far left, does anyone here think he and Senator Barack Obama have any similar characteristics or personality traits? Let's be clear on the definition of far left.

How exactly is Liberal defined, both candidates are offering the same thing, Hillary went too far with the "gas tax holiday" and "windfall profits tax" if anyone is left of center, it's those pandering, rude, race baiting, negative, Clintons. I don't hear Senator Obama giving anyone a handout.

[KQuarksSuperKollider]

Hillary is farther left than Obama on all the key issues taxes, health care, nuclear energy, foreclosure crisis and regulations. They just call Obama more liberal because he is African American.

[Ramirez]

Their voting records are fairly close, but Obama is rated more liberal. In fact, he's rated the "Most Liberal" senator in congress.

You'll hear much more about that once the GOP gets in gear.

[Nonamnesiac]

The majority stupid racist electoarate of West Virginia only likes one kind of Black -- Black lung. Their votes for Republicans has led to a substantial deterioration in mine safety and has assisted in expandng,and not even trying to develop sympathetic treatment for, Black lung.

Now they will heed the racist call of Hillary Clinton -- racist campaigner. But in November, they'd abandon her -- as they will be able to vote for a candidate who will pick their pockets, send their kids off to be killed and maimed against the interests of the United States, reduce mine safety and contribute to Black lung-- AND who voted against making MLK Day a national holiday and against the Civil Rights Bill of 1990 -- a stone cold racist, like them.

[blubastian]

"The majority stupid racist electoarate of West Virginia only likes one kind of Black -- Black lung."
Thank you. That's an excellent quote to send to some of the super delegates! I want them to know the true heart of Obama and his supporters.

[KQuarksSuperKollider]

If you best plan to get super delegates is the whine about Obama supporters you will be sadly disappointed. Nonamnesiac's comment was a little caustic but there is a good deal of truth about what they are saying. My father is from north eastern PA and half his family was on black lung disability at one time. It is a way of life in those old states. They just said on one of the networks that 1 in 6 people in WV are on food stamps. They like Hillary because she promises to keep the handouts going.

[Nonamnesiac]

Eat this. The superdelegates HAVE TO GIVE OBAMA THE VOTES HE NEEDS TO GET THE NOMINATION. Otherwise they are rewarding racism and rewarding Hillary's flagrant breaking the rules to which she agreed regarding MI and FL. They CANNOT strip away the nomination from the guy who got the most delegates, states and the popular vote under the rules to which all parties (including racist, liar Hillary Clinton) agreed based on more pundit crystal ball BS about Obama's electability -- pundits whose crystal balls have been wrong on nearly everything since they cheerled us into invading Iraq based upon intelligence they knew to be false.

And they HAVE TO DO GIVE HIM THE NOMINATION even though that's what's in one of Obama's supporters' heart about the racist majority of the West Virginia and Kentucky elecotrates (and I'm not even his pastor). What are you going to do, get the media to run a national loop over one of my temper tantrums too, and blame it on Obama? I'm even more irrelevant to Obama than the Reverend Wright is.

Kentucky means "stupid, racist, white guy mentality", in the Dixiecrat dialect of the Redneck language.

[KQuarksSuperKollider]

Face it the bulk of Hillary Democrats want something from there government for nothing. Obama is not willing to do that. A great example is Obama's college grant plan were he will give a young person money for college but they have to serve in civil or military service in return.

[sclucie]

Your comment is racist and bigoted - and I'm not a Clinton supporter. Have you actually ever been to WV? Met anyone who was from there? Are you aware the state voted for Bill Clinton twice? Did you happen to hear the pretty amazing speech Robert Byrd gave during the debate over the Iraq war?

Hillary Clinton gave a reprehensible, racist interview to USA today and she should be ashamed of it. But that doesn't make all the people of WV or all of Clinton's supporters racist. It certainly doesn't help defeat John McCain.

[Rothgar]

Loved Bryd's speech.

I regularily converse with Liberal West Virginians and they'd generally agree with the assessment. On of them recently pointed out that West Virginia has good feelings about Bill Clinton and will coorespondingly reward Hillary.

[Nonamnesiac]

Yes I've been to W. VA. Yes I know people from there. And yes, it is a despicably majority racist state. It's public educational institutions are in the bottom 30% of the nation.

Byrd, who was in the KKK when he was a young politician, has been a vocal and serious opponent of the Iraq War -- a truly eloquent voice against Hillary's insane vote to kill and maim American young against the interests of the United States.

The depth of racism within W. Va. (and Kentucky for that matter) is not to be minimized or ignored. You may not like the truth, but that doesn't mean it's not the truth.

[sclucie]

That is disturbing.

[DIdaho]

What's hilarious and disturbing about these comments is how so many supposed free-thinkers base their opinions on spin and style instead of substance. Correct as you will, I've seen exactly three policy differences between Obama and Clinton - on health insurance, on foreclosures, and on the gax tax. In each case Clinton champions the big-government, anti-market solution: mandating coverage, freezing foreclosures and interest, and (attempting) to impose punitive taxes. Honestly, I don't recall any other policies or programs on which they differ. Hillary is, policy-wise, the leftist candidate. Yet people shriek about Obama's liberal policies. Do you people have any idea there's a ring through your nose?

[KQuarksSuperKollider]

Thank you I thought I was the only one who noticed that too. Obama's policies are very pragmatic and more mainstream than Hillary's. Add Hillary's radical freeze on foreclosures and Obama's middle class tax cut as another policy were Obama is much more centrist than Hillary. Obama is pro nuclear and coal energy which may tick off some green people but nuclear is needed to ween ourselves off of foreign oil. On the social issues they are the same though Clinton has been much more gun control than Obama. I think Obama has a much more moderate personality than Hillary's and that's why you see his policies and campaign are much more moderate.

[Tulka2]

Clinton would MANDATE the citizen to buy insurence from the Insurence Industry. She would graft the Insurence Industry onto the U.S. Government. What is leftist about that?!

[aliceblue]

I don't see any follow through on Hillary's
so-called policies.

She lied her head off about her position on
NAFTA, in fact she was holding all these soirees
for business women at the White House to garner
their support for Bill's NAFTA legislation at the
exact time she was supposed to be

privately protesting

her opposition to NAFTA. In addition . . .

There's supposed to be an ongoing investigation
in the Canadian Parliament over the NAFTA
flap but Harper has taken it away from (first)
the Privy Council and (second) the Royal
Canadian Mounted Police and handed it over
to a private investigative firm.

The opposition in Parliament is livid.

The right-wing Harper is politically aligned
with the Clintons but this coverup and a
couple of other irritations are about to force
a national election that will throw Harper out
of office.

So the damage the Clintons do to promote
themselves isn't limited to the continental
United States alone.

[IAM4CLINTON]

With the exception of Bill Clinton, we Democrats have time and again nominated left wing liberal (atleast that has been the perception in middle America) candidates that have not been able to win in the general election- Dukakis, Gore and Kerry.

Why should we expect a different result this time with BHO ? In fact, BHO is perceieved to be even left of Dukakis.

[KQuarksSuperKollider]

Yada yada Obama's plans are more centrist than Hillary's the only thing Hillary is being more conservative actually neoconservative on is foreign policy where she sounds like McBush.

[sclucie]

You're ignoring facts. Of the three candidates, Clinton is the least favorable and the least trusted. She has not been remotely vetted. Polls in New Jersey show that she wouldn't even take that state now.

Obama is not Dukakis - and the comparisons are ridiculous. Good or bad - people vote for who they like - and Dukakis was not a particularly likable candidate.

[MNmommy]

Ugh.

Recess isn't over yet?

Folks around here need to stop tearing each other apart and insulting one another. It's like the school yard around here.

[NetProphet]

Hurray for Mrs. "C" for driving up the winding hills of WV ! She's a trooper - all the way!

[LiberalIncarnate]

For those minority of Clinton supporters that will not vote for Obama in November... especially those that are women... if McCain wins you can kiss women's rights goodbye! Imagine what the Supreme Court will look like after four years of McCain?

[SmootyBooty]

Please, I was trying to eat...

[blubastian]

Fear-mongering will not get Obama the votes needed in November. Besides, isn't that a Republican tactic?

[k6007]

Why not? I got hill plenty in OH, TX, and Pa.

[PAposter]

blubastian: you have learned well from Clinton how to project your shit onto others. Name one tactic used by the Obama camp that could be characterized as fear-mongering. How do you people ever establish meaningful relationships, if this is the way you communicate your perspective?

[DFDoerr]

Cuz thay doent now anny beter.

[NightRider]

Why does West Virginians hate blacks?

Is this America?

[blubastian]

Is Obama the embodiment of blacks or is he just a politician that happens to be black? If he were a white balding middle aged man would he have the support he has now. Are you voting for his skin color or his stance on the issues and experience? How many Obama supports are voting for him out of guilt? How many super delegates are jumping on his bandwagon in the hopes of gaining favor with black voters? Has our political system turned into the neodem version of American Idol?

[jsfox]

As far as I'm concerned Obama happens to be a politician who is black. I thought long and hard about my choice this year, read a lot and listened. However, I can also understand why AAs and women might be voting on gender and race grounds. I think if there is any good news in this protracted primary fight. It's that the country seems to be ready for a black or woman to be it's president.

[IAM4CLINTON]

Just because Hillary is winning in WV, you cannot dismiss WV and its people as racists. Maybe, they are good old fashioned folks who believe in hard work and experience- , see that she has worked very hard while in the Senate and on the campaign with specific ideas and is not seeking the Presidency claiming (via surrogates) to be a "special" person who is entitled to it.
.
Also, folks in WV as in majority of this country believe that their lives were bettered in the years that had a Clinton in the White House.......there are many such plausible reasons for their support of HRC over BHO.

[SmootyBooty]

One of which is the fact that WV voters believe Obama is a Muslim and his wife an atheist...

[Paris68]

True, some might, but it cannot be discounted. From a Salon today:

Mike Madden has an article up today in which he mentions one voter in West Virginia who said his neighbors "won't go for a black man ... I don't think it's being racist necessarily, they just don't like black people that well." The man added, "The arrogance and all that bothers me more than black, but black is a close second ... Our generation was back when blacks were the back of the bus, and it's hard to change that outlook. I just feel like I couldn't vote for him."

[DIdaho]

To be fair, they also hate Mexicans, Asians, Italians and most everybody else who isn't from West Virginia, and most people from West Virginia who aren't from their town. How many people have you known who've decided to move to West Virginia? Yeah, me too. They are among the most insular in the nation, most families go back many generations and they've all done the same thing and always known the same people. This was part of my stomping grounds as a young-un, and even then I thought they made people from southern Ohio look downright cosmopolitan. Clinton's been around a long, long time and they're familiar with her. That's it, and that's all of it.

[sclucie]

Does a vote for Hillary mean you hate Blacks? What does that say about the state of New York, who gave her 67% of the vote for Senate in 2006? What does that say about Californians, where Clinton won by almost 10 points? I'm not a Hillary fan, and I was disappointed in my home state of California - but nobody can call them backward or insular, or hillbillies. West Virginia is a swing state and they are far more likely to vote for candidates they consider to be middle of the road. Hilary plays that contest well and she'll win West Virginia and Kentucky because of that.

[Paris68]

No. Some very sophisticated people I know support her and are frankly wonkish in their reasoning. Please do not equate the two. But there is a lot of reporting going on from WV today, and there is an alarming amount of people there who are saying, "I'm not racist or anything, I just would never vote for a black guy." Now for those who feel out of place without access to public transportation, that's pretty frightening stuff.

[aliceblue]

I don't consider the Clintons to be Democrats.

Since Dr. Martin Luther King marched and
since President Lyndon Jonson signed the
Civil Rights Act, the Democratic Party has
been inclusive. The Republican Party, on
the other hand, took back the South with
blatant racism.

When the Clintons dropped the Race Bomb
in West Virginia, they were no longer Demo-
crats.

For this reason all the organizing to put
Hillary on the ticket is pointless. Obama
cannot hold the crucial black vote after
the

[EinChicago]

Ignoring rabid Kultists like Kay and KQuark for a second and actually diverting into reality (a place Obama Kultists don't spend much time, admittedly), let's look at the reality of the situation. For 12 months, Obama Kultists have passionately and zelously tried to convince voters that HRC is basically GOP-lite and interchangeable with McCain. Now, after being so successful at convincing Clinton supporters that their preferred candidate is closer to McCain than Obama, they act surprised that McCain is the logical alternative if HRc doesn't get the nomination? One of teh many faces of Obama when this began was of a moderate. That's what he was in Iowa. However, he''s been co-opted as a niche candidate valiantly fighting against the middle moderates. McCain has spent 8 years fighting for the middle. Why the big surprise that the moderate middle center left block would rather move slightly to the center and pcik McCain than swing hard to the fringe for Obama? It';s not spite, simply logic. The Obama Kultists have done such an effective job of driving everyone else out of the party, what dd they expect?

[NightRider]

EinChicago, I always knew there was something very sad about you. Go outside and make some friends. There is a world out there waiting for you to discover it.

[RobBob]

I'll give you the notion that some Dems were pushed away by the Obama mania. What you are dead wrong about is your characterization of Obama as a "niche" candidate. Obama has brought in *far* more voters to the Democratic party than he will push away. *Millions* more.

Those so-called "ordinary" Americans who won't vote for a black man? Anyone who courts and gains that vote is the real niche candidate. When Hillary says she's got the "white, working-class, non-college educated" vote in the bag, isn't she going just going for her own small niche? The irony is that frankly, this demographic wouldn't vote for any Democrat in the general election -- let alone Obama.

The proof is in the pudding: Obama won the Democratic Nomination because he appeals to a *broad* range of voters.

[EinChicago]

And you make the same mistake all Obama Kultists do and refuse to take off the blinkers for a second. Of course, anyone who won't vote for Obama is doing so based on race right?
Ignoring those who won't vote for him based on lack of experience, perceived religion, elitism, effete ivory tower loftiness,etc. The problem is that Obama has alienated a heck of a lot of "niche" groups, at teh expense of pandering to two small niche groups.

[DIdaho]

Well, minus the vitriol, as an Obamaniac I completely agree. Hillary, in a remarkable about-face, has come to represent the conservative wing of the Democratic party, so it isn't surprising that conservative democrats might prefer a conservative republican to another democrat. That is not, by any means, historically unusual. Why this will fail is that McCain, having fought for years as you say to fight for the middle, has had to abandon it to appease the right wing elements of the Republican party, while Obama has been painted as being on the fringe but in fact is in the middle. It's entirely possible voters will ignore reality and vote the image, thereby extending the American Tragedy our government has become. But the actual policy difference is between four more years of potentially endless Iraq war and an economy tilted towards the most privileged, or an end to that war and a policy of shifting the economy toward working people. Rhetoric aside, that is the choice.

[EinChicago]

"Why this will fail is that McCain, having fought for years as you say to fight for the middle, has had to abandon it to appease the right wing elements of the Republican party"

yeah. That global warming tour of his really shows how he has abandoned teh middle. *snicker*.

[FunGuy13]

I must say that at this point I am conflicted in a few ways...here you have Obama who I consider to be a weak candidate, while his talk & mojo maybe smooth, he might not have the moxie to deal with all the challenges that will require him to clean up the Repukelican mess that they have dealt us. If elected he might fail (it seems when all else fails they always get the minorty to clean up the white man's mess in untenable situations)...if he fails to turn this country around in 4 years that will put Repukelicans in a stronger position in 2012...on the other hand if McCain wins, then it's most fitting that a Repukelican is elected to clean up an unfathomable mess of a country which we know cannot be possible be fixed in 4 years...this would be the final death knell for Repukes for sometime to come & would put Dems in an unbelievable stronger position in 2012...hmmm...as a Hillary Democrat (not white by the way) I am very tempted to vote McCain....

[dulcis]

Obama is burnished steel. Just because he didn't raise a sweat winning the nomination doesn't make him weak. If you do vote for McCain, his Supreme Court nominations, and the overturning of Roe v. Wade will be on your head. Sleep well.

[FunGuy13]

Sorry, I am not a 1 issue voter, there are more dynamics at play than just one issue...Re­pukelicans have been in power since Clinton & they have tried unsuccessfully to overturn Rowe vs Wade...this is a non-starter for me...

[LiberalIncarnate]

Looking forward to a large Oregon victory for Obama a week from today. How wonderful that will be!

This will be over by the 1st week of June if not sooner. Sorry Hillary. Your supporters will have to be happy with you as head of the Senate or maybe, a Supreme Court Justice... ? Not a bad boobie prize at all.

[msmaggie]

Nothing quite as elegant as a gracious winner.

[blubastian]

If those Oregonians vote for Obama it just proves that they are a bunch of uneducated sexist pigs. They don't represent America. They shouldn't be allowed to vote. Who cares, we don't need them anyways!

Sorry, just trying to see if I can post the same hate that comes out of the mouths of Obama supporters.

[donnajane]

I believe it was in WV that hillary said she would support drilling for oil in the Alaska Wildlife Refuge...did anyone else catch that? The Senate earlier rejected the (Republican) energy plan. Did anybody see the speech where she made that statement?

[JohnKemp]

Even if she did, she'd never get it past her fellow Dems.

Drilling for oil on our own soil, refining it here as well & supplying it to our own people at low cost is just too big a pill for the Dems to swallow.

Anytime they have the chance to help our poorest citizens, the Dems fail to meet the challenge.

[Grizzlies]

Senator Obama remains a charismatic, chameleon whose character is indiscernable. Obama has said that "words matter." How is it that Obama zealots continue to engage in verbal diarrhea when commenting on Senator Clinton? May I speak plainly? Sen. Obama CANNOT win the general election without the 16 MILLION supporters of Sen. Clinton. In short, ELECTABILITY of any candidate depends, in large measure, on the degree of humility from their supporters. Meanwhile, the magic number remains 2,025!!

[kdublya]

Grizzlies,

Don't let it end,
I'm begging you,
Don't let it end this way!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=CMqX8E6xiI0

[BWonka]

So will you support Obama, or will you act like the other bitter, selfish, childish Hillary supporters who keep whining and saying they will vote for McCain because their candidate lost?

[msmaggie]

Just curious, should something crazy happen and Hillary would get the nomination, you would be prepared to support her?

[KQuarksSuperKollider]

You could not be more wrong. Bush supporters were the most ravenous supporters for a Republican candidate since Reagan. If Gore had the same passion behind him Bush did he would not have been able to steal the election in 2000. In fact the only passionate supporters that fought for Gore were the congressional black caucus memebers if you remember. Passionate supporters win elections.

[msmaggie]

That's exactly what Ron Paul says.....

[huffposeur]

if gore had won his home state of tennessee he would've been president.

if gore had won clinton's home state of arkansas he would've been president.

but he didn't -or couldn't. and the result was hanging chads in florida. i will NEVER forgive al gore for putting the country through what he did in 2000.

The guy served in congress from tennessee. he served in the senate from tennessee. his father served in the senate from tennessee. as a tennessean he served eight years as VP and couldn't win his home state?

shame on you al gore. look what your bumbling incompetence has led to...

if you hate george bush, thank al gore for thinking he could become president without winning his home state.

if you hate al gore, thank him for thinking he could be the first sitting vice president in US history who could succeed the president without winning the president's home state.

shame on you al gore!

[sclucie]

Character is character. Obama's got it, Hillary just doesn't. If you think she does - imagine her telling a crowd in San Francisco, with Diana Feinstein and Barbara Boxer by her side that she plans to "obliterate Iran," Imagine her making the statement she made about "working Americans, white Americans" before the NC primary. I wish that we had an honorable female candidate. Unfortunately, we have a woman running for the Presidency who changes her positions as she crosses state lines.