If the Clintons are so popular in WV, why didn't WV vote for Clinton's heir apparent in 2000?

[bluestateguy]

If these folks love the Clintons so much, why didn't they follow President Clinton's lead in 2000 and vote for the candidate who was pledged to carrying out his policies for four more years? President Clinton asked them to vote for Gore. Why didn't they follow the president's lead?

[BlueManDude]

1. Because Gore foolishly spent the 2000 campaign distancing himself from Bill Clinton.

I'm not a HRC supporter by the way but that's what happened.

[VeraAgnes]

3. Bravo!!!

You know your facts ....Gore still may come out and voice his strong support to
"Count All the Votes".

[anonymous171]

26. Bush was running on "Restoring Dignity to the WH"

I can see Gore's logic then, by distancing himself from Bill.

[tritsofme]

2. Don't blame the failings of Gore on Clinton.

This is a state that even Dukakis carried.

[Youphemism]

4. It's not how much they like/dislike the Clintons at all...

If this is indicative of the overall sentiment, Hillary could be a serial killer and still get the vote there:

W Virginia keeps distance from Obama
By Andrew Ward

Published: May 11 2008 20:13 | Last updated: May 11 2008 20:13


Like most people in Mingo County, West Virginia, Leonard Simpson is a lifelong Democrat. But given a choice between Barack Obama and John McCain in November, the 67-year-old retired coalminer would vote Republican.

“I heard that Obama is a Muslim and his wife’s an atheist,” said Mr Simpson, drawing on a cigarette outside the fire station in Williamson, a coalmining town of 3,400 people surrounded by lush wooded hillsides....

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2a50425a-1f86-11dd-9216-000077b07658,s01=1.html

[flpoljunkie]

12. The man sounds like Clinton's 2008 primary base--low information, white voters.

[wvbygod]

21. Why do you say white?

Low information yes but I see no sign that it is a white voter.
Where do you see white in his words?

[shaniqua6392]

5. Gore made the mistake of distancing himself from Bill Clinton.

At the end of Clinton's term his poll numbers were still very high. People still loved him despite the fact that he got a blow job. The Dems really did not hold it against him since it was such a personal issue between him and his wife. Gore made a fatal error. If he would have campaigned with the Clinton's showing party unity, he would have won so many more votes that Florida would have never became an issue.

[Jersey Devil]

6. 2 words - Columbine & coal

With all the school shootings (Columbine was in 1999) and talk of gun control, West Virginians bought the line that the Democrats were going to take their guns away and thus, no more squirrel pie. They also believed that Democratic environmentalists would completely stop coal mining, the only real source of revenue for much of WV, an idea pushed by "clean coal" Republican lobbyists.

I can't see how either Democrat could overcome that in the general election this year and expect WV to be Republican.

[virginia mountainman]

7. I would say that their is some truth to the line that democrats ...

"Are going to take your guns away"...

H.R. 1022: Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection Act of 2007..

This bill will ban the most popular small caliber rifles in America. Including all semi-automatic shotguns, and the vast majority of semi-auto hunting rifles (it bans them by feature, not name). The guns 'it purports" to protect us from have been tightly restricted since the 1930's, their is not a single "machine gun" or fully automatic weapon on that list.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-1022

This bill is sponsored, and co sponsored, ONLY by Democrats..Hell even Carolyn McCarthy the sponsor, does not even know what she is banning....watch this clip.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ospNRk2uM3U

Sponsor: Rep. Carolyn McCarthy
Cosponsors
Rep. Neil Abercrombie
Rep. Gary Ackerman
Rep. Howard Berman
Rep. Earl Blumenauer
Rep. Lois Capps
Rep. Yvette Clarke
Rep. William Clay
Rep. Joseph Crowley
Rep. Diana DeGette
Rep. William Delahunt
Rep. Rahm Emanuel
Rep. Anna Eshoo
Rep. Sam Farr
Rep. Chaka Fattah
Rep. Bob Filner
Rep. Barney Frank
Rep. Raul Grijalva
Rep. Jane Harman
Rep. Alcee Hastings
Rep. Mazie Hirono
Rep. Rush Holt
Rep. Michael Honda
Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee
Rep. Henry Johnson
Rep. Patrick Kennedy
Rep. Dennis Kucinich
Rep. James Langevin
Rep. Barbara Lee
Rep. Zoe Lofgren
Rep. Nita Lowey
Rep. Carolyn Maloney
Rep. Edward Markey
Rep. Betty McCollum
Rep. James McGovern
Rep. Martin Meehan
Rep. Kendrick Meek
Rep. Bradley Miller
Rep. James Moran
Rep. Jerrold Nadler
Del. Eleanor Norton
Rep. John Olver
Rep. William Pascrell
Rep. Edward Pastor
Rep. David Price
Rep. Steven Rothman
Rep. Janice Schakowsky
Rep. Adam Schiff
Rep. Brad Sherman
Rep. Albio Sires
Rep. Louise Slaughter
Rep. Hilda Solis
Rep. Ellen Tauscher
Rep. John Tierney
Rep. Niki Tsongas
Rep. Christopher Van Hollen
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Rep. Diane Watson
Rep. Melvin Watt
Rep. Henry Waxman
Rep. Robert Wexler
Rep. Lynn Woolsey
Rep. Albert Wynn


With the supreme court case, civil rights related to gun ownership, is going to be BIG this year.

Like West Virginia, how many more states and elections are we willing too loose over illogical legislation???

[Jersey Devil]

10. Well, there you go

Anytime there is legislation designed to take away "assault weapons", generally thought of by people like me to be AK-47s and the like, the gun lobbyists say it includes virtually all guns.

I am not a hunter though I have nothing against hunting and think that in many cases it has a legitimate purpose (like keeping the deer population from exploding for example or bears from wandering into residential areas), but why would any hunter need or want a semi-automatic weapon? I thought it was a sport.

[virginia mountainman]

13. Hunters are only a small number of total gun owners..

The vast majority are those that keep guns for self defence and target shooting. These people overwhelmingly prefer semi-automatics

As I said above, the AR-15 platform IS, the most popular rifle in America today, it is lawfully, and responsibly owned by MILLIONS of citizens...

Do we really want to piss those voters off???

Heck, I am a collector of historical arms, and even some of MY guns are on that list.. Hell those idiots even want to ban the lowly M1 Carbine.

What I don't understand is, why, some in our party, insist on following Sara Brady (Republican) word for word.

I mean REALLY, why would she as a Republican, want a Democrat to take a politically extremely unpopular stance??

I mean really, every time some in our party push gun control, we get our asses KICKED in a big way at the polls.

EDIT, who is this "gun lobby" you speak of...all I did was read the proposed law, and tell you about it...

[Jersey Devil]

14. "gun lobby"

I used the term as a broad description that includes gun advocates, meant nothing insulting by it.

I think the problem is that we may be approaching this all wrong by taking it on on a national basis. I think anyone would have to agree that gun laws that might be appropriate for WV might not be appropriate for NJ and visa versa. Each area has different customs, different problems and different histories. A burst of gunfire in the forests of WV probably wouldn't hurt anyone (except maybe other hunters) but a burst in the forests of NJ might take out a family in their back yard on the margins of the small forest border. Maybe Democrats should approach it from that viewpoint - state by state.

My main point is that guns (and coal) were the reason Gore and Kerry lost and why I think Hillary's claim that she can win WV are baloney.

[virginia mountainman]

16. I can agree with that for the most part.

:toast: But gun bans for law abiding folks are OUT of the question. I am cool with some restrictions, but most of the gun control ideas floated today, are shockingly bad.

[benEzra]

19. If you're talking about firing "bursts," you are talking about automatic weapons,

not civilian semiautomatics. A semiautomatic is NON automatic, though the MSM often deliberately conflate the two.

This is a semiautomatic:


Browning Mk II Safari Grade

The majority of civilian guns sold in the United States each year are semiautomatic. They all fire at the same rate, i.e. they fire once and only once when the trigger is pulled, and will not fire again until the trigger is released and pulled a second time.

FWIW, all automatic weapons (including actual assault rifles) are VERY tightly controlled by the Title 2/Class III provisions of the National Firearms Act of 1934, and possession outside of police/military/government duty without Federal authorization (BATFE Form 4) is a 10-year Federal felony.

With regard to the OP, Gore lost on the gun issue in WV, just as he did in his own home state of TN. 80% of gun owners are nonhunters, so promising to outlaw the most popular nonhunting guns is a guaranteed loser.

[Leftist Agitator]

23. Wow, just wow...

That video of Carolyn McCarthy is DISGUSTING.

I can't STAND Tucker Carlson, that smarmy little bow-tie wearing bastard, but it was nice to see him expose the truth: Carolyn McCarthy doesn't even know what it is that she's banning.

Anti-Gun types, by and large (NOT all of them, just the majority) really need to admit that they don't know the first thing about firearms (except that they're scared of them), and shut the fuck up.

Oy... This precise issue is why we (and the rest of the unfortunate planet) has had to suffer through eight years of Bushco.

[virginia mountainman]

27. Yep...NT

[Leftist Agitator]

24. duplicate

[Vinca]

9. So they voted for a guy who put a crony in charge of mine safety

and we all know how that worked out.

[MyNameGoesHere]

8. Gores position on coal. It's the same as Obama's

[Jersey Devil]

11. and Hillary's is different?

How so?

[MyNameGoesHere]

17. No she wasn't dumb enough to state a position.

Some things are better left unspoken. The miners won't vote against you for no position on mining but they sure as hell will if you say you want to regulate or reduce it.

[book_worm]

15. The Clinton's are popular there, so be it. It's one red state that counts.

[Zynx]

18. Gore really didn't have the same appeal that Clinton did.

Clinton had hardcore, down-home appeal. Look at a county map from 1992 or 1996 to see that.

[WinkyDink]

20. Because Gore wasn't Clinton? Check the votes on Hillary, for the reality.

[wvbygod]

22. Gun registration and Gore was not Clinton

When Gore said he was pushing for national gun registration he lost most all
gun owners in WV. Add that to the fact the good people here don't just take
the request to vote for someone, they need to know whom they are voting for or against.

[theboss]

25. Gore got creamed on the gun issue, if I recall correctly.

When Republicans win in WV, it's almost always because of guns.