Hillary's trip to west virginia didn't go too well

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I don't want Sanders to win WV, mainly because of what people will make of that, but also because WV has never backed my preferred candidate as long as I've been able to vote (in a primary or GE.) I'd like it to stay that way.

At least one person on this forum has used Sanders winning Oklahoma as evidence of the Sanders campaign being racist.

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Atlas' strange fixation on working class Appalachian former coal miners never ceases to amaze.

Probably just want the map to look better.

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I wouldn't say West Virginia is a "microcosm" of the Democratic Party's relationship with the white working class at all. More like West Virginia is a macrocosm of their issues with the coal industry and those that depend on it, along with Kentucky, SW Pennsylvania, SE Ohio, some areas of Virginia, etc. Anyway, kudos to her for visiting I guess, but the state is and will remain hostile territory to Democrats for a long time. Just like Vermont was a reliable Republican state that went hard towards the Democratic party in a short amount of time, West Virginia was a reliable Democratic state that is (has) going hard towards the Republican party in a short amount of time. I can see Trump getting 65-70% in the state even if Hillary wins nationwide by double digits.

The problem is that the Democrats have gone hard left on the issues that matter to them most.  The Dems went from being moderate environmentalists (I'm pretty sure most people would support the Clean Water Act, for example) to hardcore hippie Sierra Club activists about it.  Considering WV is a coal state, that doesn't play too well there.  If the Democrats could shift a bit more to the middle on environmental issues, while still supporting labor rights and the basics of the New Deal, WV could shift back to the blue column.

I could see a moderate like Evan Bayh, Jim Webb, John Bel Edwards, etc. putting it into play in a future election.

Not trying to pick on you personally, but there's good reason the Democrats have gone "hard left" on coal. It's a major contributor towards climate change, which the Department of Defense considers a significant threat to national security.

"Shifting a bit more to the middle" on the environment at this point is like shifting a little towards the middle on allowing poison in baby food. It doesn't frelling matter how much of WV's economy depends on poisonous baby food, it's still a bad idea.

Your radical environmental positions are stealing baby food from babies and starving the people Appalachia by crushing their income so think about that before you pretend to hold the righteous ground.

I wouldn't call realizing that fossil fuels are harmful a 'radical' position.

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West Virginia is actually a legitimately interesting state (with a very sad story to tell: did you know that the population of McDowell county used to be about 100,000? Less than 20,000 now) so why can't it be discussed on Atlas without this ridiculous thread again? It reflects pretty poorly on all of you from the concern trolling Republicans who suddenly claim to care soooo much about mining towns to the braindead D tendency who repeat grossly inaccurate stereotypes as Gospel.

Because the people there have the gall to vote Republican, even when the Democrats would be better for them! Must be racism.