1. He pandered the term "clean coal" while he was in Charleston, does he really believe investment in coal technology is the best route for energy independence -- even Bush now admits global warming is real and is a threat.
2. I have unnamed WV sources who are still very suspicious of Rev. Wright, Obama's (former?) pastor. I assume Rev. Moss is Obama's current pastor. Folk still need to hear him communicate his view of faith.
3. Obama had a chance to go to some out of the way communities in WV, to sit and chat with normal people. Had a cup of coffee in Buckhannon (Jerry Brown campaigned there in 92), or a scoop of ice cream at Dairy Queen in St. Albans (my hometown, JFK did), or skipped a rock across the Ohio in Sistersville (I do not know if any candidate has been there). A few photo-ops and small town hall style meetings could have gone far for Obama. He could talk about his faith, about the hardships he saw on the southside of Chicago (I don't think those hardships were that different than in WV), he could have played a game of basketball in Oceana or Welch (this would have gone far). But he didn't. David Broder is right, I believe. If WV is a swing state in '08 Obama had better find a map and not just stop in Charleston, but time is of the essence, five months. Easier to have visited last week than in the middle of a general election.
2 comments:
It may have been a strategic blunder to ignore WV, but I think Obama's folks looked at the math after NC and said "we've got it won" and decided to move into general election mode. My guess is they feared if O spent too much time in WV and still lost by 20 or 30 points, the loss would have been much more devastating. As it is they can say we didn't think we could win so we didn't spend much time there. I also wonder if they knew about the Edward's endorsement and saved it for the day after a big loss. Ed's endorsement took the WV loss off of the front page and gave Obama some credibility by the guy supposedly the most attractive to WV voters.
I agree with Hawk. Being an Obama supporter I would have loved to have him spend more time here, but in reality he could not gain much ground. The truth is that our 5 EC votes in the fall won't mean too much either unless the election is really close.
At least he got a few delegates from our state, and he got at least 2 Super Delegates. Of course Edwards took away the WV loss spotlight, but today the remarks by Bush really helped to make the Tuesday vote seem years ago.
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