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Democratic country keeps its 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.
Mr Simpson's remarks help explain why Mr Obama is trailing Hillary
Clinton,
his Democratic rival, by 40 percentage points ahead of Tuesday's primary
election in the heavily white and rural state, according to recent opinion
polls.
A landslide victory for Mrs Clinton in West Virginia will do little to
improve her fading hopes of winning the Democratic nomination, because Mr
Obama has an almost insurmountable lead in the overall race. But Tuesday's
contest is likely to reinforce Mrs Clinton's argument that she would be
the
stronger opponent for Mr McCain in November, and raise fresh doubts about
whether the US is ready to elect its first black president.
Occupying a swathe of the Appalachian Mountains on the threshold between
the
Bible Belt and the Rust Belt, West Virginia is a swing state that voted
twice for George W. Bush but backed Democrats in six of the eight prior
presidential elections.
No Democrat has been elected to the White House without carrying West
Virginia since 1916, yet Mr Obama appears to have little chance of winning
there in November. Recent opinion polls indicate that Mrs Clinton would
narrowly beat Mr McCain in the state but Mr Obama would lose by nearly 20
percentage points.
West Virginia is hostile territory for Mr Obama because it has few of the
African-Americans and affluent, college-educated whites who provide his
strongest sup****t. The state has the lowest college graduation rate in the
US, the second lowest median household income, and one of the highest
pro****tions of white residents, at 96 per cent.
A visit to Mingo County, a Democratic stronghold in the heart of the
Appalachian coalfields, reveals the scale of Mr Obama's challenge - not
only
in West Virginia but in white, working-class communities across the US.
With
a gun shop on its main street and churches dotted throughout the town,
Williamson is the kind of community evoked by Mr Obama's controversial
comments last month about "bitter" small-town voters who "cling to guns or
religion".
"If he is the nominee, the Democrats have no chance of winning West
Virginia," said Missy Endicott, a 40- year-old school administrator. "He
doesn't understand ordinary Americans."
Ms Endicott was among roughly 500 people who crammed into the Williamson
Fire Department building on Friday to attend a rally by Bill Clinton, the
former president. He told them his wife represented "people like you, in
places like this", and urged voters to turn out in record numbers on
Tuesday
to send a message to the "higher-type people" who were trying to force her
out of the race.
Local leaders said Mr Clinton was the most im****tant visitor to Williamson
since John F. Kennedy passed through during the 1960 election campaign. Mr
Kennedy's victory in the West Virginia primary that year was a crucial
step
towards proving his electability as the first Catholic president. Nearly
five decades later, the state appears less willing to help Mr Obama break
down barriers to the White House.
None of the 22 Democrats interviewed by the Financial Times at the Clinton
rally would commit themselves to voting for Mr Obama if he became the
nominee, and half said they definitely would not. The depth of opposition
is
particularly striking considering that Mingo County is one of the most
Democratic places in West Virginia, having cast about 85 per cent of its
votes for the party in the 2006 midterm elections. If Mr Obama cannot win
there in November, he has little chance of carrying the state.
Most people questioned said they mistrusted Mr Obama because of doubts
about
his patriotism and "values", stemming from his cosmopolitan background,
his
exotic name and the controversy surrounding "anti-American" sermons by
Jeremiah Wright, his former pastor. Several people said they believed he
was
a Muslim - an unfounded rumour that has circulated on the internet for
months - despite the contradiction with his 20-year member****p of Mr
Wright's
church in Chicago. Others mentioned his refusal to wear a Stars and
Stripes
badge and controversial remarks by his wife, Michelle, who described
America as "mean" and implied that she had never been proud of the US
until
her husband ran for president.
Conservative commentators have questioned Mr Obama's patriotism for months
and the issue is expected to be one of the Republicans' main lines of
attack
if he wins the nomination. "The American people want a president who loves
their country as much as they do," said Whit Ayres, a Republican
strategist. Obama sup****ters believe patriotism is being used as code to
harness racist sentiment.
Josh Fry, a 24-year-old ambulance driver from Williamson, insisted he was
not racist but said he would feel more comfortable with Mr McCain, the
71-year-old Vietnam war hero, in the White House. "I want someone who is a
full-blooded American as president," he said.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
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