Good afternoon. I'm Carnacki, founder of West Virginia Blue, a group blog in West Virginia. I'll be writing on the presidential primary race in West Virginia here weekly until the May 13 primary. (Jerome's also kindly agreed to allow me to post a weekly diary on the WV-02 race pitting Democrat Anne Barth, a favorite of the local netroots and the DCCC, against rightwing, ineffective Bush Republican Shelley Moore Capito).

To be honest, it's been such a long time since West Virginia's primary mattered in a presidential race that we're not used to it.

West Virginia is a state of contradictions. Take the Eastern Panhandle, where one of the fastest growing counties in the country is located. It has become an outer suburb of Washington, D.C., with large McMansions built not far from dilapidated house trailers. Or McDowell County, the core of Appalachia. If any county fits the stereotypical view, it is McDowell. Yet it is the home of State Del. Clif Moore, an African American and a defender of a bill to extend anti-discrimination protection to gay people.

And a state that touts its natural beauty also is busy allowing the coal companies to literally destroy the mountains and hollows, using more explosive force than was used at Hiroshima through mountaintop removal.

To continue forward with the contradictory nature of the state,  polls consistently have showed Sen. Hillary Clinton with a commanding lead if she faced John McCain in the general and against Sen. Barack Obama in the primary. Yet two of the state's biggest political names, Sen. Jay Rockefeller and Rep. Nick Rahall have endorsed Barack Obama and the grassroots support has seemed to consistently favor Obama (here's one example).

For the record, I'm supporting whoever the Democratic nominee is.

Here's a wrapup of some of the recent diaries on the race on West Virginia Blue with a focus on coal and the environment.

Former President Bill Clinton made a campaign appearance Wednesday.

With West Virginia among eight remaining primary contests, former President Bill Clinton blasted critics who say his wife should quit the race for party unity.
Clinton told crowds in Parkersburg, Chesapeake and Beckley that complaints about the divisiveness of the Democrats' long-running primary contest are overblown.

"Let's saddle up and have an argument," he told an audience of hundreds in Parkersburg. "What's wrong with that?"

snip

But Clinton told crowds they shouldn't vote for his wife based on his administration, but should take into account her plans for the country.

"It's not just my record, it's Hillary's conviction," he said.

Clinton touted his wife's proposals on the economy, health care, education and the war in Iraq. With coal trucks driving by outside his Chesapeake stop, he made the same pitch for developing clean coal technology that he made in Parkersburg and Beckley.

Saying clean coal technology could be exported to major coal-burning countries like China and India, Clinton insisted he makes the same pitch in non-coal states like California.

"This is a way we can save the planet and bring good jobs back to West Virginia," he told a cheering Beckley audience.

Actually the Orwellian named "clean coal" technology may appease voters in the coal counties, but it cannot "save the planet" and may actually be more environmentally hazardous.

I am concerned about it for all the reasons people state, but I think its a difficult question because of the conflict between the economic and environmental trade-off that you have here.

I'm not an expert. I don't know enough to have an independent opinion, but I sure would like people who could be objective, understanding both the economic necessities and environmental damage to come up with some approach that would enable us to retrieve the coal but would enable us to do it in a way that wouldn't damage the living standards and the other important qualities associated with people living both under the mountaintop and people who are along the streams.

You know, maybe there is a way to recover those mountaintops once they have been stripped of the coal. You know, I think we've got to look at this from a practical perspective.

Obama's also campaigned in Charleston and Beckley and was asked about striking the balance between mining and the environment:

Chad Foreman of Fayetteville asked Obama how he could help the state strike a balance between the environmental damage caused by the coal and logging industries and the environmental concerns of eco-tourism.

"The truth is, we don't have perfect energy sources," Obama said, adding that even though he supports wind energy, he is aware windmills threaten migratory birds. "Every source of energy has some problems. .... There are ways of removing coal that work well ... in a way that does not degrade the environment. But there are other companies tearing stuff up. The key for us has to be to work with those companies that are engaging in the best practices and understanding that over time everybody has an investment in the environment of West Virginia. ... But we have to do it in a way that does not completely eliminate the industry that provides a livelihood for a lot of people. We have to make a transition to clean energies, but it's not going to happen overnight."

Obama has stated that, as president, he intends to put an aggressive renewable energy plan into place that would, by 2020, make 25 percent of the nation's energy come from alternative sources

UPDATE: Just got an email from Rod Snyder, president of the West Virginia Young Democrats:

To: West Virginia Young Democrats I am pleased to announce that former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton will speak during our WVYD convention kick-off event at 5:00 this Friday evening at the Charleston Civic Center (Room 202). We already have a very exciting lineup of speakers throughout the convention, and the addition of Chelsea Clinton will make this weekend truly unforgettable. The kick-off event is free and open to the general public. (The Obama campaign may also be sending a surrogate speaker to the convention, mostly likely during our general session on Sunday morning. Please check the WVYD website later this week for more details.) We have moved up the start of the convention registration time to 4:00 p.m. on Friday to accommodate the slightly modified schedule. The complete agenda for the weekend is available on our website at www.wvyoungdems.org. The convention registration fee is $10, payable by cash or check when you arrive at the Civic Center. Tickets are still available to the general public for Saturday night's keynote dinner with Christine Pelosi. Members of the general public who are not Young Democrats can purchase a ticket for the Pelosi dinner for $50 each by contacting Kanawha Valley Young Democrats President Travis Mollohan at 304-345-2794 or tmollohan@hotmail.com. Of course, those Young Dems registered for the convention will be admitted to the keynote dinner for free.

More on the West Virginia Young Democrats convention here.