tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post6381282024910674111..comments2023-10-16T07:13:12.123-05:00Comments on A plain blog about politics: West VirginiaJonathan Bernsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15931039630306253241noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-35784250611604611902010-06-29T02:23:12.981-05:002010-06-29T02:23:12.981-05:00Jonathan Bernstein:
Tennessee did in 2004, after ...Jonathan Bernstein:<br /><br /><i>Tennessee did in 2004, after Gore was off the ballot.</i><br /><br />Did you forget that Gore lost his home state in 2000?David Tomlinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-28929149547827398232010-06-28T17:07:45.011-05:002010-06-28T17:07:45.011-05:00Yup, I noticed NJ too. It's weird how consist...Yup, I noticed NJ too. It's weird how consistent it was from 1968 through 1992 (7 elections), always just a bit more Republican than the nation, and then in 1996 it breaks strongly for the Dems. <br /><br />Hmmm...looking at it more closely, I wonder if there isn't a regional effect having something to do with what once were the mountain Republicans -- KY also swung to the GOP in 2000 with WV, and Tennessee did in 2004, after Gore was off the ballot. KY and TN were more or less swing states in the 1980s, but not any more.Jonathan Bernsteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15931039630306253241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-18075146140904928122010-06-28T16:03:23.201-05:002010-06-28T16:03:23.201-05:00I'm going to make a couple of guesses. First--...I'm going to make a couple of guesses. First--social issues became more important in national elections. WV is very very socially conservative, but not really that economically conservative. I think Nate Silver has a chart for that, too. I remember seeing it.<br /><br />Two--collapse of the unions. I might be talking out my a** a little here (I hope not); I'm trying to remember from West Virginia history class, which I had in 8th grade (just like every WV kid), and it was a while back.<br /><br />But most of the southern states became Democratic because of reconstruction, right? And in opposition to the anti-slavery Republicans. But WV was a Union state (albeit at least partly by force), and never had a large black population--poor Appalachian farmers and miners being too poor to own slaves, although they probably would have had them if they could.<br /><br />WV came to the Democratic party mostly for a completely different reason: coal miner's unions. Life for a miner before unionization was about as bad as you can get outside of actual slavery. That was remembered for a long time. Time was, WV elections were called by the unions, and they called them Democratic.<br /><br />But most of the mines are non-union now, and anyway with automation there aren't nearly as many mining jobs anyway. So yeah.<br /><br />So anyway, that's my guess. All politics is local? Sort of?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-2912389048515700642010-06-28T14:41:48.532-05:002010-06-28T14:41:48.532-05:00I'm not sure the best way to measure these, bu...I'm not sure the best way to measure these, but wouldn't you say that New Jersey is at least as interesting a leftward-movement story as West Virginia is a rightward-movement one? Its profile on the 538 chart seems actually more stark that WV's.Seth Maskethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17178036016555722068noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-74470745595414264282010-06-28T14:22:43.278-05:002010-06-28T14:22:43.278-05:00Monica Lewinsky.Monica Lewinsky.Michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10559337725063627254noreply@blogger.com