Hillary thumps Obama in West Virginia

The chart says it all. Hillary's landslide victory racked up more than 40 points over Obama in the swing state of West Virginia.


Clinton won every county in West Virginia, an incredible feat.


WV was a Clinton blow-out!!! Wheeeeee-ooooo!

But this is funny un-ha-ha and says a lot about Obama. Via Lambert, BO "left Clinton a congratulatory message on her..." wait for it... "mobile phone." Can you believe it? Wow, how un-presidential. His arrogance is breathtaking. Or is his embarrassing loss too hard to face?

Some grafs from Hillary Clinton's victory speech at Charleston, WV:

You know, like the song says: “it's almost heaven,” and I am so grateful for this overwhelming vote of confidence.

There are some who have wanted to cut this race short. They say “give up, it's too hard, the mountain is too high,” but here in West Virginia, you know a thing or two about rough roads to the top of the mountain. We know from the Bible that faith can move mountains and, my friends, the faith of the Mountain State has moved me. I am more determined than ever to carry on this campaign until everyone has had a chance to make their voices heard.

I want to commend Senator Obama and his supporters. This continues to be a hard-fought race, from one end of our country to the other. And yes, we've had a few dust-ups along the way, but our commitment to bring America new leadership that will renew America’s promise means that we have always stood together on what is most important.

Now, tonight I need your help to continue this journey. We are in the homestretch. There are only three weeks left in the final contests, and your support can make the difference between winning and losing. So I hope you'll go to HillaryClinton.com and support our campaign.

You've heard this before – there are many who wanted to declare a nominee before the ballots were counted or even cast. Some said our campaign was over after Iowa, but then we won New Hampshire. Then we had big victories on Super Tuesday and in Ohio and Texas and Pennsylvania, and of course, we came from behind to win in Indiana.

So, this race isn't over yet. Neither of us has the total delegates it takes to win and both Senator Obama and I believe that the delegates from Florida and Michigan should be seated. I believe we should honor the votes cast by 2.3 million people in those states and seat all of their delegates. Under the rules of our party, when you include all 50 states, the number of delegates needed to win is 2,209, and neither of us has reached that threshold yet. This win in West Virginia will help me move even closer.

Now, in a campaign, it can be easy to get lost in the political spin and the polls or the punditry, but we must never lose sight of what really counts, of why all of us care so much about who wins and who loses in our political system. An enormous decision falls on the shoulders of Democratic voters in these final contests and those Democrats empowered to vote at our convention. And tonight, in light of our overwhelming victory here in West Virginia, I want to send a message to everyone still making up their mind.

I am in this race because I believe I am the strongest candidate - the strongest candidate to lead our party in November of 2008 and the strongest president to lead our nation starting in January of 2009. I can win this nomination if you decide I should, and I can lead this party to victory in the general election if you lead me to victory now.

The choice falls to all of you, and I don't envy you. I deeply admire Senator Obama, but I believe our case, a case West Virginia has helped to make, our case is stronger. Together, we have won millions and millions of votes - by the time tonight is over, probably 17 million, close to it. We've won them in states that we must be prepared and ready to win in November – Pennsylvania and Ohio, Arkansas and New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Michigan, Florida, and now West Virginia. It is a fact that no Democrat has won the White House since 1916 without winning West Virginia.

The bottom line is this – the White House is one in the swing states and I am winning the swing states. And we have done it by standing up for the deepest principles of our party with a vision for an America that rewards hard work again, that values the middle class and helps to make it stronger.

With your help, I am ready to go head-to-head with John McCain to put our vision for America up against the one he shares with President Bush. Now, I believe our party is strong enough for this challenge. I am strong enough for it. You know I never give up. I’ll keep coming back, and I’ll stand with you as long as you stand with me.

We're standing with you, Hillary.

Riverdaughter posted an ad in support of Hillary from the WomenCount PAC that will run in major newspapers this weekend. Click the link to read the ad.

At No Quarter, watch the video between Howard Wolfson and Donna Brazile. Whoa.

Egalia at Tennessee Guerilla Women reminded us: "59% of Hillary Voters Will NOT Vote for Obama... And the backlash against the misogyny picks up steam." You betcha.

Violet at The Reclusive Leftist posted videos of Hillary's speech.

On to Kentucky!

West Virginia exit polls

Exit polls of West Virginia voters have started to trickle in. Via my notes from CNN:

• 64% of WV voters cited the economy as their top issue.

• 45% said that the economic recession has affected them a "great deal."

• Of those who voted for Hillary, 72% said they thought the gas tax holiday was a "good idea."
  

• 43% of Obama voters also thought the gas tax holiday was a good idea; 54% disagreed and thought it was a bad idea.
  

• The gender gap is back: Hillary Clinton voters break out 55% female, 45% male.

• Obama voters are 57% male, 43% female.

I'll update as the numbers release.

UPDATE I: How will WV Democrats vote in the November?

If Obama is the nominee, Clinton voters say how they will vote:

• 36% for Obama
• 35% for McCain
• 24% will not vote
• 5% for other

In the reverse, if Clinton is the nominee, Obama voters said how they would vote:

• 51% for Clinton
• 31% for McCain
• 14% will not vote
• 4% for other

UPDATE II: Experience vs. change.

Of WV Democrats who said experience was most important, they overwhelmingly went for Clinton:

• 93% for Hillary Clinton
• 3% for Barack Obama

Who can bring about change? Once Obama's signature issue, Clinton has narrowed the gap. Of WV Democrats:

• Obama got 53%
• Clinton got 45%

UPDATE III: Shared values.

Of Obama voters, does Hillary Clinton share your values?

• 62% No
• 37% Yes

Of Clinton voters, does Barack Obama share your values?

• 70% No (rev.)
  
• 30% Yes

UPDATE IV: Controversies--Rev. Wright and unfair attacks

Does Obama share the views of Rev. Wright?

• 51% Yes
• 47% No

Did Clinton attack her opponent Obama unfairly?

• 59% Yes
• 38% No
  

Did Obama attack Clinton unfairly? The responses split evenly.

UPDATE V: Those who said the economy was their top priority and who voted for Clinton:

• 76% said it had affected them a great deal
• 58% said it had affect them somewhat
• 50% said it had affected them not much/not at all

Female voters broke for Clinton in a big way: 71% for Clinton vs. 27% for Obama.

Obama won 28% of the white vote.

WV voters also said that Bill Clinton was a "boost."

CNN called WV for Clinton the minute the polls closed due to a "wide margin."

Fox News called the primary for Clinton due to exit polls that showed 68% voted for Clinton, 32% went for Obama.

Exit poll data available from CNN's main WV page here.

UPDATE VI: WV blue-collar whites without a college degree:

• 72% Clinton
• 23% Obama
• 5% Other

White voters with college degrees:

• 55% Clinton
• 41% Obama
• 4% Other
  

POSTSCRIPT: Edited for clarity.

Reports from West Virginia

Hillary Clinton at a rally in Charleston, WV

Chicago Tribune (with emphasis added in bold throughout):

The front-running Obama made quick work of the state, flying in for a speech in Charleston before departing for Kentucky, which votes on May 20. And in those remarks he readily conceded what most expect: that Clinton will handily beat him Tuesday in the state's Democratic presidential primary....

...Meanwhile, Clinton moved eastward across the state, making an afternoon stop in the economically ravaged coal town of Logan. There, in a packed high school gymnasium, she seemingly pulled at the threads of all of her campaign themes to date, telling the crowd that she would fix the troubled economy, sever America's dependence on foreign oil and be a strong commander-in-chief.

Robby Shell, a resident of Logan, said his state would punish Obama for campaigning so little here. A Clinton blow-out, he said, "will send a message that working people, blue-collar people trust Hillary Clinton. They don't know Obama."

Boston Globe:

Clinton has tried to cast today's primary as one of the few remaining chances for party leaders to recognize that she would be a stronger nominee against McCain. "I keep telling people, no Democrat has won the White House since 1916 without winning West Virginia," she said at a morning stop yesterday at a Charleston biscuit shop.

"West Virginia used to be a leading Democratic indicator, but the last few years we've gone more Republican," said Susman, a consultant who is not supporting a candidate. "People in West Virginia like their guns, like their religion, love their country - and they like the Clintons. They relate to Bill, they relate to Hillary."

Reuters:

Clinton, a New York senator who has vowed to keep fighting despite her dwindling prospects and a mounting campaign debt, spent the day in West Virginia on Monday and showed no sign she was ready to step aside so Obama could focus on a November match-up with Republican John McCain.

"West Virginia is a real indicator of which way the political winds are going to go," she said at a rally in Logan, West Virginia. Clinton said her wins in crucial big states like Ohio and Pennsylvania made her a better choice against McCain.

"I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't believe that I could be the best president for West Virginia and America, and that I was the stronger candidate to take on John McCain in the fall," she said....

...Despite calls from some Democratic officials for Clinton to quit, a new ABC News/Washington Post poll found nearly two-thirds of national Democrats say there is no rush for Clinton to get out of the race.

Even 42 percent of Obama's supporters said Clinton should remain to the end of voting on June 3, rejecting the idea that a prolonged race would hurt the party....

Why do the media hate democracy? Why do they ignore a majority of Democrats? Why do they downplay West Virginia in the race for the WH? Let's review via The Reclusive Leftist:

• In 1988, Jesse Jackson took his hopeless campaign against winner Michael Dukakis all the way to the convention, often to great media praise.

• In 1980, Ted Kennedy carried his run against Jimmy Carter all the way to the convention, even though it was clear he had been routed.

• In 1976, Ronald Reagan contested the “inevitability” of Gerald Ford all the way to the convention. Few, then or since, have ever thought to criticize Reagan’s failure to step aside and let Ford assume the mantle.

• Also in 1976, three candidates — Mo Udall, Jerry Brown, and Frank Church — ran against Jimmy Carter all the way through the final primaries, even though Carter seemed more than likely to be the eventual nominee.

• Even in 1960, Lyndon Johnson and Adlai Stevenson fought the “certain” nomination of John F. Kennedy all the way to the convention floor.

In fact, until this year, it’s been an axiom of American politics that candidates are allowed to pursue their runs until they decide to drop out...

...Clearly the rules are different for penis-less lady candidates:

Yet in one of the tightest races in modern history — before the opponent has come close to clearly clinching the nomination, before a number of voters have been given the chance to have their voices heard, and when Clinton still has a chance, albeit a slim one, to win the prize, she is continually vilified for failing to see the light and bow out. What gives? ...

...…Clinton is being held to a different standard than virtually any other candidate in history. That’s being driven by Clinton fatigue, but it’s also being driven by a concerted campaign that examines every action the Clintons take and somehow finds the basest, most self-serving motivation for its existence. Thus, in this case, when Clinton is simply doing what everyone else has always done, she’s constantly attacked as an obsessed and crazed egomaniac, bent on self-aggrandizement at the expense of her party. Is there a fair amount of sexism in the way she’s being asked to get out of the way so a man can have the job? You be the judge. [Emphasis added.]

No, there’s not a fair amount of sexism. There’s a huge amount of sexism, both conscious and unconscious. All this talk of Clinton fatigue is bullshit — in 2004 the party was wishing they could re-nominate Big Dog after his speech at the convention. What’s going on now is that lay-deez aren’t supposed to reach for power, and those who do are evil unnatural witches who consort with demons, eat babies, and fuck ponies for fun.

Can anybody name me a single über-powerful woman in the entire history of Western civilization who hasn’t been vilified as a freak of nature?

The sexist press corps have attempted to destroy Hillary's reputation for years. But West Virginia will send a clear signal to the media today: go to hell.

And they will send a message to Obama: we don't want you as our nominee.

Superdelegates can change their minds before casting their votes in August and Hillary Clinton has every right to take the fight all the way to the convention floor. She can win the general election in November and sweep in more Democrats on her coattails. Obama can't.

In South Dakota, whose primary will transpire on June 3, 41 former state legislators and constitutional officers have endorsed Hillary Clinton.

More importantly, swing state Democrats declared that Hillary is best for the top of the ticket:

The decision about who to support to be our Party’s nominee is not one that any of us should take lightly. We haven’t. But, after giving this important decision a great deal of thought, we are convinced that Hillary Clinton has the vision, skills and commitment to make the changes our country needs. As Democrats who have run and won in competitive Congressional districts and battleground states, we believe that Hillary is best positioned to successfully lead the Democratic ticket in districts and states like ours around the country.

As you know, Hillary has racked up victories in bellwether states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and now Indiana that are absolutely vital to winning the White House and maintaining our Congressional majority in the fall. Hillary has won the big battleground states by connecting with voters whose support we must have to win the general election. Her victories in Pennsylvania and Indiana were all the more impressive after being outspent by as much as two or three to one.

Pennsylvania was not just a victory for Hillary Clinton. It was also a wake- up call for superdelegates, forcing us to ask ourselves two essential questions: 1) Which candidate can carry the magic 270 electoral votes to win in the fall? 2) Which candidate is most likely to help our fellow Democrats in down-ballot races? We believe the answer to both of these questions is Hillary Clinton.

On the first question, Hillary has shown she can win the all-important battleground states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida even while being outspent. This speaks to her ability to connect with voters we must deliver in the fall, including blue collar Democrats who can sway this election as they have in the past.

On the second question, Hillary has won rural and suburban districts which we as Democrats must carry to maintain our edge in Congress. Of the fifteen districts rated “toss up” by the Cook Political Report, Hillary has now won ten. Of the 20 districts we picked up in 2006 that had gone for President Bush just two years before, Hillary has now won 16. She is strong in the places we must win to hold and expand our majority.

Turning attention to today's primary, if Obama is allegedly as inspiring as JFK, why can't he win WV as JFK did?

It's as if today WV voters will deliver a famous snub to Obama, "Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."

Until the lady in the pantsuits says

Hillary will win West Virginia by a blow-out margin on Tuesday as much as 40 points in a state that Bush won in 2000 and 2004. Clinton can bring the state back into the D column. Obama can't.

While Hillary campaigned across WV on Mother's Day, she received letters from moms expressing their support. One letter read, "It's not over until the lady in the pantsuit says it is.''

Later in the evening at a stop in Eleanor, WV, Clinton quoted Eleanor Roosevelt, "A woman is like a tea bag. You never know how strong she is until she's in hot water."

Clinton's campaign has drawn its strength from a 60-36 percentage advantage over Obama among white women voters in the primaries so far - though the gender gap is smaller among college-educated white women -- 54-43 percent -- according to exit polls conducted for The Associated Press and television networks.

"Keep fighting," another letter to Clinton had read, according to the candidate, reading aloud from the supporter's missive. "The fact is that you stood throughout the constant ups and downs of this race. You never wavered and you never gave up."

Anglachel reminded us yesterday in Democratic Blind Spots that:

Hillary = nominee = victory; Obama = nominee = defeat. Neither candidate has enough pledged delegates to get to 2209 votes without super delegates, so it is up to the SDs to decide the fate of the party in this electoral cycle. The nominee isn't the person with the most at a certain point in time, it is the person who first hits 2209.

Regardless of what the corporate press corps, which will certainly favor McCain in the fall, and the Obama camp hypes, this race is far from over. Anyone who has studied the pledged delegate scheme realizes how un-democratic the distribution of awarded delegates is.

If the Dem establishment ignores the will of the people via the popular vote, and who has carried the swing states, all key to an Electoral College victory, then they risk ignoring Anglachel's equation...

"Hillary = nominee = victory; Obama = nominee = defeat."

Get your game face on for Hillary

Hillary is still in this race despite the 24/7 media spiel anointing Obama the winner and the chortling over the perceived fait accompli in the Obamasphere. So get your game face on and let's roll.

In cramming a lot into one post, I've abbreviated some of the cites so click the links to understand the whole picture.

Who has our worthless media establishment cut out of the political discourse?

Older voters. For Obama, it's teh suck:

The Clinton campaign consistently includes Hillary Clinton’s appeal to seniors when it discusses why she is the better choice to face off against John McCain – but the media seldom mentions older voters, choosing instead to concentrate on Clinton’s appeal to “white working class” voters to hype the race angle in the campaign.

The Obama campaign’s use of talking points involving “new voters” and a “new coalition” is sending a message to older voters – that “old” is worth a lot less to them than “new”, that young voters are more important than older voters, and that the “new coalition” means that the concerns of the “old coalition” members are no longer critical to the Party.

And all this is going on when the Republican Party will have a 71 year old as its nominee.

Paul Lukasiak provides in-depth analysis, numbers, charts, a whole megillah.

Who joined Republicans against progressive Democrats to undermine the middle class by voting for legislation with the Orwellian name, Class Action Fairness Act?

You know who:

In 2005, Barack Obama voted for CAFA, the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005. Who voted against it? Hillary Clinton, Dick Durbin, Ted Kennedy, Pat Leahy, Joe Biden, Barbara Boxer and other progressive Democrats. Even Harry Reid. Who voted with Obama? Republicans, from Trent Lott to Lindsay Graham to Jeff Sessions and Democrats Joe Lieberman and Diane Feinstein (big surprise.)

Jeralyn of TalkLeft discusses why it was a very bad bill and commenter andrys adds more flesh to some of *cough* Barry's benefactors:

Obama gives Hope to corporations - Truthdig, Apr 28, 2008

Barack Obama Inc.: The birth of a Washington machine - (Harpers, Oct 26, 2006 issue)

Obama Campaign press release - response to Harper's article - Oct. 23, 2006

A Bit More on Barack - Harper's added detail for Obama campaign - Oct. 26, 2006. This includes Obama's explanation that We can do better than burdening businesses with cases of class-action abuse.

All his talk about not knuckling under to special interests is talk. M'yeah. Smell the hypocrisy. Here's a whiff of Barry's stealthy lobbyist network from The Hill.

Polls from West Virginia and Kentucky indicate an upcoming Hillary landslide.

Do you wonder why the media have gone ga-ga for Obama as if he's got the nomination? C'mon. The media are corporate subsidiaries comprised of influence peddlers dedicated to the plutocracy. Via tngen at Corrente:

There’s a good reason for the recent Obamabot psyops, pundit declarations, general wailing and at times cajoling Clinton supporters have been subjected to since her recent Indiana victory was spun into a loss: Clinton still has a very good chance of securing the nomination.

What’s more, the next few days are absolutely critical for her and her supporters. The end is only here if we allow the latest round to depress morale and turnout for the upcoming WV and KY primaries.

Jay Cost at RCP lays out why Clinton’s down but not out. First some numbers and demographics:

Two things are holding me back: West Virginia and Kentucky.

—SNIP—

However, it is possible that she could counter Tuesday’s blowout with two big blowouts of her own in the next two weeks. This could undo most of the damage done by her big loss in North Carolina, and put her back on track....

...What happens to “It’s Over” if Clinton pulls a 40-point victory in West Virginia on Tuesday, then follows it up a week later with a 30-point victory in Kentucky? If these states turn out in the same margins that states since March 4th have averaged, that would imply a net of about 290,000 votes for Clinton. That puts her within striking distance of a reasonable popular vote victory. “Over” will be over as we turn our attention to Puerto Rico.

Lambert weighed in:

I keep thinking that, if they really had it in the bag, they wouldn’t be screaming so loud that they’ve got it in the bag — and then attributing Hillary’s persistence to, er, psychological factors (“You know how women are…”)... Eh? ...I mean, why doesn’t Obama just release the 50 SDs he’s got in the bag and have done with it?

NOTE And I love that “elite opinion” has congealed around Obama triumphalism. This is the Village [aka media pundit class]. They’re always wrong about everything.

To quote a Daily Howler bromide I'll repeat often in the next few days: "You really can’t run a middle-class democracy with a multimillionaire press corps." Big media is out of touch, disconnected in their ivory towers. They want to pitch information, not listen to info consumers. You think we have a free press in America with the public's best interest at heart? Don't make me open a can of bwahahahahaha.

What's happening to the Democratic Party? And are the Blog Boyz still members of the reality-based community?

Super-smart Anglachel analyzes the "mass psychosis that has overtaken half of [our] party" and the "dissolution of what should have been a solidly unified party." She delves into the break-up, the differences between Obama's and Hillary's approach, and a "revolution" of Barry's new "saints" demanding old sinners--Hillary supporters--to simply give up and bow to The One.

What I see rising from the other side is clearly of two kinds. Half of Obama's support is simply racial identity voting. The other half is from the faction of the party that is significantly insulated from the stark world of need and want. There is a love of the other-worldly where the beauty of the idea and the ideal matters more than the base. The political "base" is seen as base - low, uncouth, adulterated, impure, unworthy. They are not among the saved and the saints. I honestly cannot remember a previous time when so many people in the party were reviled for doing nothing except vote for a conventional candidate....

...Cultural liberals really do tend to think that people who fit the profile of Clinton voters don't have deeply held principles and are not capable of forming complex opinions of the world, little more than dupes of puppet masters like Karl Rove. They act from false consciousness, not from the rich inner life that the properly educated and worldly claim as their own. The dedication and commitment of Clinton voters is denied because those hicks can't really believe anything, and thus the saints need not take into consideration the desires of the fallen as real, let alone legitimate.

Are Clinton voters to STFU and sit down until our ballots are required at the sacrificial altar of The One? Ha! Think again. Anglachel cites Obama supporter Chris Bowers to prove her point. He wrote:

Cultural Shift: Out with Bubbas, up with Creatives: There should be a major cultural shift in the party, where the southern Dems and Liebercrat elite will be largely replaced by rising creative class types. Obama has all the markers of a creative class background, from his community organizing, to his Unitarianism, to being an academic, to living in Hyde Park to shopping at Whole Foods and drinking PBR. These will be the type of people running the Democratic Party now, and it will be a big cultural shift from the white working class focus of earlier decades. Given the demographics of the blogosphere, in all likelihood, this is a socioeconomic and cultural demographic into which you fit. Culturally, the Democratic Party will feel pretty normal to netroots types. It will consistently send out cultural signals designed to appeal primarily to the creative class instead of rich donors and the white working class.

The New Democratic coalition is kicking the working class (and whole lot of other folks who aren't Bubbas) to the curb.

Note the Bowers echo in the words of the DNC's Donna Brazile here and whoa! A hostile response from her here. (Thank you, Joseph!)

After reading Bowers's crazy talk, I wish someone would spike the Blog Boyz Kool-Aid with lithium. Maybe their manic phase would subside and snap the boyz back to reality. Grandiosity and hubris has run amok. McCain and the GOP will make lemonade out of a chunk of Hillary supporters pegged as lemons cast aside as old.

I'm fighting for Hillary because she's fighting for us all. Let's do it.