Wednesday, May 9, 2012

The morning after

Before I get started on what happened here in the Mountain State's voting booths yesterday, let me commiserate for a moment with my brothers and sisters in North Carolina, which became the 31st state to constitutionally declare a marital union to be between a man and a woman. The amendment reaches much farther than that, however. I'm so sorry for my friends who live and work and sleep there.

It's tough to be a left-wing, pinko, socialist, liberal, forward-thinking commie rat in West Virginia.

Now, I'm not quite all of those things. Yet. But I do wear rose-colored glasses when it comes to Democratic politics, and I still think it's possible to turn West Virginia blue in November.

Then again …


Who is this Keith Judd, you ask, and what was he doing on the West Virginia ballot?

Judd currently resides in Beaumont, Texas. He will be a guest of the state of Texas, at Texarkana Federal Correctional Institute, until June, 2013, and he has been there for more than 15 years after being convicted of making extortion threats at the University of New Mexico.

So 41 percent of the registered Democrats who showed up to vote yesterday picked a currently incarcerated federal prisoner over our current President. I feel pretty certain that just seeing an alternate name was enough for most of them. Candidate "Anyone But Obama" is pretty popular here in the Mountain State.

I'm embarrassed and ashamed. From the AP story in this morning's Charleston Gazette:
Judd carried about a third of the vote, further evidence of Obama's unpopularity in the Mountain State.
I believe the reporter was exceedingly politically correct in his assessment. I think the evidence shows just how very racist some West Virginians are.

I'm anxious to talk with state party leaders. It appears to me we have a bit of mopping up to do. I've learned that the Obama campaign will not be spending much money or time in West Virginia. We've already been written off, tossed aside. Our five electoral votes are irrelevant in 2012. Swing states like Ohio, Florida, Virginia and, yes, North Carolina will see a lot of him in the next six months. I hope and pray he's able to carry those states with big numbers.

Or, at least, big-enough numbers.

As for me, I'm putting an Obama sticker on my car's bumper today. And I hope no one steals it.

3 comments:

Diandra said...

Good luck!

As an outsider, I have a hard time understanding how anyone might want to vote Republican... and this side of the Atlantic, I don't know anyone else who would.

It's easy to forget, between movies and music, that these are all different countries with different cultures, after all.

gingerzingi said...

OMG! Is that Keith Judd thing for real?

Winnie said...

I enjoyed your article. I nearly fell of my chair reading it. I am in NYC so I am not familiar with Mr. Judd, but that blew me away. I had to chuckle about the swing states, as before Pres. Obama was even "running" officially the last time, I got to meet him IN OHIO. He was at the museum introducing himself..My twin nephews have pics shaking his hand BEFORE he was even running. So, you are right. In NY, our state is more in line with your thinking, so it is the opposite..He will do well here without much trying. Thanks for the interesting article..My hubby will like the title you gave yourself...as he says he is that title most times..

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