Hillary Clinton, candidate of white Americans, crushes Obama by 40 points in West Virginia

In her infamous interview with USA Today, Hillary referenced an AP report that, she said, “found how Sen. Obama’s support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me.”

Hillary’s specific reference to her “white” support made Peggy Noonan feel sick.

Hillary’s comment was not borne out in North Carolina and Indiana, which have many blacks, but West Virginia is another story. According to the New York Times:

Two in 10 white West Virginia voters said race was an important factor in their votes. More than 8 in 10 who said it factored in their votes backed Mrs. Clinton, according to exit polls….

With 92 percent of the precincts reporting, Mrs. Clinton had 67 percent of the vote and Mr. Obama had 26 percent.

41 percent!

The West Virginia results raised troubling signs for Mr. Obama. Although exit polls in other states have indicated that many Clinton supporters, including many whites, would back him in the fall, more than half of West Virginia voters said they would be dissatisfied if Mr. Obama won the nomination, according to the surveys by Edison/Mitofsky.

As the Clinton campaign noted in a strategy memo on Tuesday, no Democrat has won the White House without winning West Virginia since 1916.

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Anna writes:

You quoted from the NYT article that “Two in 10 white West Virginia voters said race was an important factor in their votes.” Since 91 percent of the black vote in North Carolina went to Obama, why was it not reported then that “race was an important factor in their votes”?

LA replies:

Good point. And the answer is that according to liberalism blacks have a legitimate existence as a racially defined group, and whites do not.

LA writes:

It can’t be understated what bad news this is for Obama. Again, no Democrat has won the presidency without West Virginia in almost 100 years, and he just lost the Democratic primary there by a staggering 41 points.

Someone said today, I forget who, that Hillary’s purpose is to make the case that Obama can’t win because he lacks the support of working class whites, and then, after he is nominated and loses the general election, she, as the candidate who has shown great toughness by staying in the race and making that correct case despite all the fierce opposition to her, will have a strong claim on the 2012 nomination.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at May 14, 2008 12:23 PM | Send