So poor bitter people don't support Obama?

"low information voters" ?

You Obama folk make me sick.

Great diary.  MyDD could be inching back toward more objective analysis of candidates and issues rather than bashing/hero worship diaries that have come to dominate.

i'll give you kudo's for writing a positive diary . I disagree with some of your points but you deserve credit.

An excellent and thoughtful diary. I do think there was a conscious decision in the Obama campaign not to contest these areas. As in all campaigns decisions need to be made where to allocate resources. The Obama camp had a near-perfect strategy based on its projections. While he no doubt could have made a play for some of these areas, and done much better there, there would have been a cost involved in taking resources from other contests.

because I think you make some good points and you have some understanding of the region.  However I wish you could see what I do, that people know Obama doesn't like, understand or respect them.
There is no doubt some ignorance and even racism.  But mostly people will not vote for a candidate who doesn't like them and to like someone you have to stop thinking of them as "ignorant and unable to hear a message of hope because it comes from a Black man".

Obama really is an elitist edrod and I think you know that.  I am an elitist too, but on different grounds and so I recognize one when I see one.  His problem is that he will not address his own snob problem. He has a very narrow parochial view of the country and it could have changed if he had spent more time in the senate before running, but I think it has doomed him in the GE this year.

And people's concerns about his Church are real and valid. No white candidate can get elected by going to a church that said the things about blacks that reverend said about whites.  Trying to deny it is a problem is just hiding one's head in the sand. No amount of time spent discussing the non-effect of reverse racism is going to change that people will not vote for a candidate who seems to be out of the mainstream and not willing to take their concerns seriously, who brushes them off as too beaten down to understand.

So why didn't Obama go meet and talk to the people of WV?  Why didn't he spend more time in PA?  He lost the advanced degree crowd in PA, Does he know why?  I do not think he does because it is easier to group people who are not voting for him in to some unflattering groups designation than question himself and his own views.

It actually makes the people of appalachia sound (somewhat) rational, just like everywhere else in this country.  I agree that the democrats (not just Obama) should give the region more attention. Otherwise the republicans are going to continue to use social wedge issues (i.e., Bill's term for bitter) to mislead them into voting for people who just are not going to help them.

Elrod thanks for sharing your thoughts. The bigger question is - can this be changed before Nov? Or should we just let go Appalachia and focus the money and effort on other regions?

I still feel Obama is a weaker candidate but we have to do with what we got and make things happen for Nov.

I am curious to hear your thoughts since it seems like you have your ears to the ground when it comes to Appalachia.

It's really hard to compare campaign stops by the Clinton and Obama camps. The Clintons have two stars to field and Barack just has himself. The President can roll into these small towns and he is the biggest name in decades. It's hard for Obama to counter that and keep up with press requests, fund raisers, big campaign stops, etc.

In my state he's been all over the place including costal towns like North Bend. North Bend is big by Oregon costal town standards but it's really quite small and out of the way, not the kind of stop that is an economical use of Obama's time.

What is the difference between

3) All of that said, the cultural barriers are real here. Historically, those with lower education levels have been more suspicious of cultural difference. Barack Obama is about as exotic a candidate as you can get. His name, his race, his family's origin, his path to Christianity, etc. are nothing like that experienced by most folks in Appalachia.

If Hillary's name was Siobhan, do you think people would be saying they wouldn't vote for her because her name didn't sound right for an American?  

Thanks for the thoughtful analysis.  I'll admit that I tend to believe that Hillary's lead in Appalachia is due to some...uh...less charitable characteristics of Appalachia.  But I'd be delighted to be wrong about that.

Also, I grew up in NW PA and was astonished to see (somewhere) that it is considered part of Appalachia.  Do you know if this is true or how I could find out?

Thanks again.

ABC News asks why Obama can't win West Virginia:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/ 2008/05/why-shouldnt-ob.html

I appreciate your thoughtful diary, and I agree with many of your points.  So many readers seem to be going directly to race without passing go at outsider.  The two are not synonymous, and if one are not familiar with the history of Appalachia and/or the traditional nature of the culture here,  one is much less likely to grasp that the two are definitely not synonymous.  Since Rockefeller's endorsement of Obama, I've heard some of his big supporters remarking on Rockefeller's "foreignness" lately: how little time he spends here; how rarely Sharon visits the state; how and why he came here in the first place, not because he endorsed Obama, but because the endorsement is so out of step with his constituents.  

That said, I don't entirely agree that union culture is dead in WV, or that the phenomenon of Bush Republicans in WV is the result of the death of union culture in WV.

I believe that the biggest job losses in coal country happened from 1950 to the 1980s, not in the 1990s.  I don't have any data to back it up, of course.  

There was also a big union push in the WV democratic gubanatorial primary in 1996 for Charlotte Pritt - are you familiar with that campaign at all? - who beat our present governor in the primary, but was abandoned by conservative Democrats (basically, the Manchin voters) in the general and lost to a genial old dude, Cecil Underwood, with whom many WVians were familiar because he was governor in the 1950s.  

Pritt had alot of support from "progressive" activists/environmentalists in the state AND from unions.  I think she was the last candidate to have a significant base in WV that included both out and out liberals and major union support.  

I believe that Gore lost WV for two reasons: 1. guns; 2. the environment.  Look, when it comes to the long-term viability of the coal industry, the UMWA has to side with big coal; it's in the interests of both the coal miners and the mining companies.  And there are loads of union- and or union-minded people who are indirectly involved in mining, if not directly involved.  Meanwhile, environmentalists make their pitches for regulation without the kind of nuance and committment to the local economy that would at least make their positions more palatable.  

I am definitely opposed to mountaintop removal mining.  I also think that most talk of "clean coal" is a crock.  But it is much easier to demand an end to mining and the coal industry when you live in NYC or Washington than it is when you live in Bloomingrose, West Virginia, especially in the absence of a genuine committment on the part of the country (and many environmentalists) to the economic viability of small-town Appalachia.

I think you make some excellent points, and, yes, it is a pleasure to read an election diary that is sincere, well-informed, thoughtful, and balanced.

At the same time, I think the issue (of Obama's lack of support) goes a bit deeper than you suggest.  Basically, his positions (focusing on process, corruption, etc.) are ones that typically appeal of high-income intellectuals.  Clinton's experience, approach, and positions are ones that have stronger appeal to the working class.  (This class split has been largely mitigated by Obama's strong appeal to African-Americans, many of whom appear to be voting for him out of racial solidarity.)  However, it still exists, so even if Obama spent a good deal of time campaigning in West Virginia, he could increase his support there, but perhaps by not too much.