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Hillary Failed in West Virginia

dailykos.com — When you're down 179 Delegates total, there is NO TIME For Momentum or Symbolism. Despite what the media is telling you, Hillary Clinton Failed in West Virginia. Despite the pomp and circumstance, Hillary's victory tonight pales in comparison to Obama's landslides... and it's beyond too late anyhow.

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  • AhrenBa, on 05/15/2008, -11/+101Ok, let me make this clear so I don't get dugg down. I am an Obama supporter.

    But, seriously, wtf, how did she fail in West Virginia?? I just checked the latest info and she was ahead by like 30-40%. I understand that she is "failing" overall, but in no way is she failing in West Viriginia.

    Let me make it clear again, I am an Obama supporter, I just hate when I see stories that are sensationist and false.
    • Gemfinder, on 05/15/2008, -9/+13Well, for one...one in four of the people who voted for her said that race was their deciding factor. And I believe 38% said that if Obama were the Democratic nominee, they wouldn't vote at all, throwing their vote straight down the crapper.
      I don't consider a following of racists and flakes to be a victory.
      • sugarazor, on 05/15/2008, -2/+4But those racists aren't confined to West Virginia, and it's obviously a factor that's going to come into play. I honestly feel it's what is going to cost Obama the election come November. As sad as it is and despite how excited I got for the campaign, deep down, I always knew his skin color would keep him out of the White House.
      • Gemfinder, on 05/16/2008, -0/+1Don't go into Harano now...it's six months away. The general hasn't happened yet.
        Unless you have a time machine?
    • BishkekBuddy, on 05/15/2008, -4/+8Read the article - not just the lead-in...
      • ligyron, on 05/15/2008, -0/+1No time for that. This is power-surfing
    • NoDrama, on 05/15/2008, -7/+7Well, let's come at it from another angle - did she "win"? No. She secured more delegates, but the incremental gain isn't enough. One of the problems facing the media is that they WANT to cover this like a sporting event, it creates an instant context of metaphors, but the process isn't sufficiently close to any sport that I can think of to make that a valid approach. So, for instance, you can't say "it's the bottom of the 9th inning" because not only is there no "home team" but we don't evaluate the outcome by the process of only counting runs scored.
      So, neither "won" in West Va. What Clinton failed to do was catch up to (or pass) Senator Obama's position under the rules in force when the process began. In fact, she failed to make a significant difference, though the count may swing one delegate one way or the other as the final details are settled.
      • TheSwashbuckler, on 05/15/2008, -1/+6"did she 'win'? No."

        She sure has hell did. By your "logic" (and I use that word in the loosest sense possible) she could not have won West Virginia even if every vote cast in WV had been for Hillary...
    • AriaStar, on 05/15/2008, -1/+6I think the author means she failed for her bid at presidency. She didn't fail at winning the state itself.
    • dave122, on 05/15/2008, -0/+3no *****. well said.
    • elhaf, on 05/15/2008, -2/+1She needed another couple of percent just to stay mathematically in the race. She'll need that same percent in ALL remaining races. In other words, even that huge blowout wasn't as huge as all the remaining blowouts will have to be.
    • krait, on 05/15/2008, -2/+2She's changed her tune and is endorsing him!
      http://digg.com/2008_us_elections/Hillary_Clinton_ ...
      • romistrub, on 05/15/2008, -1/+3Stop whoring your submission. Whore.
    • glibpaxman, on 05/15/2008, -2/+2can i make a sports analogy?

      if a basketball team enters the 4th quarter down by 30 points and then outscores their opponents by 29 in the 4th quarter they still lose. to win at this point hillary needs to win all of the remaining delegates and seat florida and michigan and convince supers who have already backed obama to back her. anything short of that is losing.
    • ChristophyBrown, on 05/15/2008, -0/+2100% agree. Here on Digg it's just ironic how we bitch about the Media and its propaganda and one sidedness and yet everything relating to Clinton and republicans (besides Ron Paul) is negative and not shown.
    • romistrub, on 05/15/2008, -0/+1I think this quote FTA describes it best:

      "Obama got 67%+ in Colorado, Georgia, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Virgin Islands and Washington DC.

      For the critics, this puts Clinton's victory in perspective. She didn't outperform Obama... if anything, with only 5 contests left, she finally put up a score similar to Obama... Better late than never."

      The writer is looking at the election holistically, not one primary at a time.
  • BabushkaBlue, on 05/15/2008, -1/+7Poblano is brilliant. I'm fascinated with his numbers and think he's worth paying close attention to.
  • locamama, on 05/15/2008, -11/+9Hillary won WV. It is more significant than earlier victories because even when the MSM is touting Obama as the "presumptive nominee" the voters still came out and voted overwhelmingly for Clinton. Obama may not have made as many campaign stops in WV as Clinton but he still outspent her in West Virginia so saying that he didn't compete there is inaccurate.
    • dinot, on 05/15/2008, -4/+10I hate it when people use this "he still outspent her in X" excuse. Obama's campaign buying a burger at a WV McDonalds would still "outspend" her broke-ass campaign. You can only go UP from rock bottom.
    • perryjoyce, on 05/15/2008, -2/+9She may have won West Virginia, but Obama is still the presumptive nominee - and it's not just the MSM saying it, anyone with half a brain acknowledges it now. I will hand it to her, she certainly does well with those low-information voters - I wonder why?
      • locamama, on 05/15/2008, -7/+6So what is the minimum educational requirement to be an Obama supporter? I am smart enough to know that Obama doesn't have the nomination yet, has lost five of the last six states and can't carry a core Democrat constituency. I hope the remaining super delegates are paying attention. Hillary may still win the popular vote if Michigan and Florida are counted.
        • dinot, on 05/15/2008, -1/+6What's the minimum education requirement to be a Hillary supporter?

          If this was the end of March, I can say "Hillary lost 11 of the last 11 states" and can't carry a "core Democrat constituency" and still be a valid argument. What the hell is a "core Democrat constituency" anyway? Low-income, less-educated white people? Isn't that a Republican demographic? There hasn't been a Democrat that has won that demographic since Lyndon Johnson.

          If you look at ALL the counties Hillary has won, the majority of them are Republican. What does that say about your candidate? She hasn't won a big urban county yet, which is also a "core Democrat constituency". And the black vote? Isn't that also a "core Democrat constituency" also? And what about people earning more than 50k? Or college educated voters? All core Democrats.

          Oh, and let's not forget that fact that the only problem Obama has is that he isn't winning Appalachia. Why don't you educate yourself http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/194870.php and show the pundits that her supporters aren't just less-educated low income morons?
        • elhaf, on 05/15/2008, -1/+2You have to be educated enough to know that this is a contest requiring the most delegates, not the highest popular vote count, whatever that is when caucuses are involved. Obama set out to win based on delegate count, and has continued to do so. He would have used a different strategy if popular vote count were the measure. Hillary, apparently, would not. Shows what she knows about winning elections. She moved to New York because she knew she couldn't win as senator in Arkansas, her home state.
  • calipan, on 05/15/2008, -1/+4Yeah I wouldn't say she failed in WV. She won a battle in a war that she has been losing for months. Depending on what you read Obama is only 142 delegates away from the win. Clinton needs 308. Obamas lead is wide enough that Clinton can pick up 2/3s of the remaining primaries and Obama would still be ahead. These primary wins are not all or nothing. Last I checked he picked up 8 delegates in WV. So she only reduced the 150 delegate gap by 12.
  • x0rcist, on 05/15/2008, -1/+14It's not so much that she failed in West Virginia as it is that she failed in the entire campaign.
  • AriaStar, on 05/15/2008, -7/+5Hillary failed at life.
    • Redline500, on 05/15/2008, -0/+8As much as I hate her and everything she stands for, you have to admit she is a powerful, influential multi-millionaire who has written a best selling book and was a very serious contender for President of the United States (aka, the most powerful (wo)man in the world). What have you done with your life?
      • elhaf, on 05/15/2008, -1/+1Leave AriaStar alone. She is a well-known and respected Digg user, AKA the second most powerful woman in the world.
      • rhabd0mancer, on 05/15/2008, -0/+2Hillary can thank her husband for most of her accomplishments. Hillary Rodham would not be a US Senator, and she wouldn't be running for President.
    • tomasII, on 05/15/2008, -0/+1I echo the above comment....what are your accomplishments?....oh you have none....that's what I thought.
  • MurphyWatson, on 05/15/2008, -4/+4If 8/10 people said race was a factor, no one can pretend that WV was in any way significant.
    • dave122, on 05/15/2008, -0/+2that makes no sense, of course they can. Just because they are racist doesn't mean their votes don't count in the general election.
      • tomasII, on 05/15/2008, -1/+4I hope that you guys crying racism will remember that when 92 percent of blacks are voting for obama....what percentage of those people are voting for him because he is black? Since he has no national accomplishments I would say a great deal wouldn't you?
        • mooseontheloose, on 05/15/2008, -0/+1SHUTUPSHUTUP LALALALA THEY'RE JUST SMART TO VOTE FOR OBAMA IT WAS A COINCIDENCE LALALALA
    • Simonft, on 05/15/2008, -0/+1You misread too. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/14/us/politics/14de ... "Two in 10 white West Virginia voters said that race was an important factor in their vote, and more than 8 in 10 of them backed Mrs. Clinton, according to surveys of voters leaving the polls."
  • reuscel, on 05/15/2008, -3/+8So, Clinton managed to prove that mountain-dwelling racist white people won't vote for a black president. Stop the ***** presses!
  • khail250, on 05/15/2008, -1/+14Buried... she won, by a landslide in WV, I am pro Obama, but this is really a BS story.
    • romistrub, on 05/15/2008, -0/+2You didn't read it, did you? The title is ***** stupid, but the story is not BS.
      • fajitamelt, on 05/15/2008, -0/+1The headline should describe the article in one short phrase; that's what a headline is. If it doesn't do that, then the website actually IS bull *****.
  • mbonzo531, on 05/15/2008, -1/+3As an Obama supporter this is ridiculous. Hillary won West Virginia by the percent that she needs to win the rest of the states. I would say that she lost Penn and Indiana because she needs 30%+ margins to catch up to Obama. She did it, get over it, look forward to Obama's two wins next week.
    • elhaf, on 05/15/2008, -0/+3Not true. She will need even bigger blowouts than this in ALL remaining primaries. That's the point of the article.
  • rsek, on 05/15/2008, -0/+4she won big time, but still won't win in the end.
  • diggstown, on 05/15/2008, -0/+1Interesting analysis, but I don't think it's fair to say she Failed in West Virginia. It really doesn't matter much anyway. She will not win the war, but she did win that battle.
  • facelesscoward, on 05/15/2008, -1/+4She failed a long time ago. West Virginia was an insignificant contest.
  • fr0ng, on 05/15/2008, -4/+6Digg is turning into Fox News, but on the other end of the spectrum.
    This is a perfect example.
    • 919kwjc, on 05/15/2008, -3/+2Yep - Digg is all about a bunch oh whiny kids who have never had a real job who post whatever they can find from DailyKos, Huffington Post, or 'Any Idiots Blog'. The real shame is that they band together to digg down the opposition and therefore stifle debate.
  • chrisbosh123, on 05/15/2008, -0/+2She's won this battle but she lost the war.
  • tcbishop12, on 05/15/2008, -4/+4As you look at the results for West Virginia, or look at any demographic breakdown of the state, keep in mind the results of prior Democratic nominating contests, especially those in neighboring Pennsylvania and Ohio.

    In those states, Clinton enjoyed a significant advantage among white voters; West Virginia is more than 97 percent white.

    Not only are they white, they're old and racist white. Clinton was much stronger among voters over the age of 65 in Pennsylvania and Ohio; more than 15 percent of West Virginia's population is 65 or over. (The national average is 12 percent.)

    Here's yesterday's vote by gender and age. Whopping 39% of voters 60 and over, which is entirely upside down from the national norm. These are Jim Crow era mighty whitey white of you voters.

    DEMOCRATIC VOTE BY GENDER: Male 49% Female 51%
    DEMOCRATIC VOTE BY AGE

    (17-29) 12%
    (30-44) 20%
    (45-49) 30%
    60 and over: 39%

    Once again: this is entirely upside down from the national norm.

    Clinton tends to do well with voters on the lower end of the income and education scales. In other words, to put it not so delicately, she does well with voters who are dumber than a stump.

    Figures, right? Exit polls show 70% of West Virginia voters thought the debunked “gas tax holiday” was a great idea.

    Census Bureau and other government data show nearly 18 percent of West Virginians live below the poverty line and roughly 74 percent of the state's population makes less than $50,000 a year.

    Put another way, West Virginia ranked 50th among the states in household income and 49th in the percentage of adults with a high school diploma.

    A look at the Democratic contests so far would suggest, at first glance, some opportunities for Obama. Virginia and Maryland, after all, border West Virginia and Obama carried the Democratic primaries in those states quite handily.

    But there is a big difference: The population of Maryland is nearly 28 percent African-American, and in Virginia the percentage of African-Americans is 19 percent.

    And in West Virginia? Under 3 percent.

    Therefore, the West Virginia results aren’t worth much merit. West Virginina is a backwater, underpopulated state from the last century, and have voted strongly Republican for the last 8 years (and I don’t care about results touted from before then, because the majority of those voters have passed on). The vast majority of the willfully ignorant and elderly West Virginia voters who marked their X beside Clinton’s name yesterday are not in any way representative of the nationwide electorate as a whole, and it is for that reason the results are skewed and meaningless as any indication of the general election. The media – and the Clinton campaign – would be wise not to judge this year’s electorate by the worst of us, with a measure reserved for the most stupid and willfully ignorant of us, the electorate’s lowest common denominator.

    • OffPiste, on 05/15/2008, -2/+1The majority of white voters haven't voted for a Democrat nationwide in presidential elections since LBJ.

      Maybe this is the year that changes but the results from PA and WV say otherwise considering that Obama is black and possibly a Muslim.
    • SkittlesUSA, on 05/15/2008, -0/+1She also won Indiana, Pennsylvania, Texas, Rhode Island, Ohio, Tennessee, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oklahoma, Arkansas, New York, Massachusetts ("most educated" state), New Jersey, and Florida. Care to accuse everyone in these states of being ignorant, racist, and stupid? No?
  • thirdcoastborn, on 05/15/2008, -4/+3hillary clinton sucks dick
    • fajitamelt, on 05/15/2008, -0/+2I think you're thinking about Monica?
  • enronias, on 05/15/2008, -0/+3Umm well technically she didn't fail in West Virgina. . . she won it by quite a bit. . . she just failed at life, at getting elected, and at keeping the honor and momentum of her party (probably) going through to the white house.
  • mooseontheloose, on 05/15/2008, -0/+3This is ridiculous. She only won because 31% of people said race was important a 2/3 of those voted for her... oh wait. That was in Mississippi. For Obama. Where he won 92% of the black vote. No racism there.
  • proliance, on 05/15/2008, -0/+4Geez, talk about spin.
  • CouchTomato, on 05/15/2008, -0/+2I just don't get it, how can you call it a win when you have threatened the spirit of unity? Billary campaign is the epitomy of old school politics and its time even WV's understood that. Hopefully they will reflect on it when BO becomes the president.
  • saltinekracka20, on 05/15/2008, -0/+2O RLY?
  • l0k0, on 05/15/2008, -0/+1Dear Daily Kos,
    I know your love for Obama is border lining fellatio, but seriously stop living in denial. WV was a landslide for Clinton.
  • SkittlesUSA, on 05/15/2008, -0/+1I'm so tired of this Obama fanaticism on Digg. What happened to the Ron Paul days, when Digg actually supported a candidate based on his political ideology and character? I remember the "Paulites" encouraged people to do their own research and they weren't bitter supporters. It seems now if you don't support Obama, by Digg's standards, you are a stupid, poor, racist.

    During the Ron Paul era- "This is our favorite candidate, and these are his political stances. You really should give him a chance, and here are a few links where you can find further information about him. We really think he can bring back the constitution and give the government back to the people."

    During the Obama era- "This is our favorite candidate. If you don't like him, you are either racist, stupid, or poor, and here are a few links where you can find further information on why we think Hilary Clinton sucks."
  • redxninja, on 05/15/2008, -0/+1Yay. I found 5 bucks today.
  • ironpirate, on 05/15/2008, -0/+1Obama can only win Very liberal and black voters....
  • wiggs08, on 05/15/2008, -0/+1hillary fails at everything
  • brwright, on 05/15/2008, -0/+1If this race was the other way around (Clinton winning) everyone here would be talking about how this would be a comeback for Obama. Very hypocritical.
  • kipmartin, on 05/15/2008, -0/+1i heard she was down in the polls. thanks for the article about how she cant win i hadnt heard that yet.

    sheesh. how about something fresh?
  • headzoo, on 05/15/2008, -0/+1C'mon now.. I'm a big Obama supporter, but lets not start playing Clinton politics. She won W.V. Period. Clinton is the type of candidate that tries to spin a loss into a win, and we shouldn't be doing the same thing.
  • ozarkhighs, on 05/15/2008, -0/+0http://www.theurbangrind.net/?p=2570
  •  

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