It's Appalachia

It's my native neck of the woods that's giving Obama his problems. Josh Marshall explains how Appalachia is the common denominator in Obama's losses to She-Who-Will-Not-Be-Denied. Quote of note:

There's been a lot of talk in this campaign about Barack Obama's problem with working class white voters or rural voters. But these claims are both inaccurate because they are incomplete. You can look at states like Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and other states and see the different numbers and they are all explained by one basic fact. Obama's problem isn't with white working class voters or rural voters. It's Appalachia. That explains why Obama had a difficult time in Ohio and Pennsylvania and why he's getting crushed in West Virginia and Kentucky.

If it were just a matter of rural voters or the white working class, the pattern would show up in other regions. But by and large it does not.

Read the whole insightful post here.

Half Breed

This sentiment seems to have been present in West Virginia:

Karen Seifert, a volunteer from New York, was outside of the largest polling location in Lackawanna County, Pa., on primary day when she was pressed by a Clinton volunteer to explain her backing of Obama. "I trust him," Seifert replied. According to Seifert, the woman pointed to Obama's face on Seifert's T-shirt and said: "He's a half-breed and he's a Muslim. How can you trust that?"

No, not everyone in West Virginia who voted for Clinton voted because of these base sentiments. But it would seem a lot of them did.

So for them, I dedicate this song: