West Virginia - 62% Romney, all county sweep, fifth most Republican state

[Frodo]

Coal has had a catastrophic four years. Due to the invention of hydraulic fracturing, the price of natural gas has plumetted. This wasn't hard to predict.

^ This. But it's easier for a Republican to accuse the EPA of a reign of terror than it is for a Democrat to explain how energy markets work.

Does anyone know how WV's state/local races went? How much longer can Democrats there seal themselves off from association with the national party/image?

This thread has the answers -some of them.

 

[Frodo]

I find it odd that state like West Virginia be so conservative when it was founded as a breakaway state from Virginia to avoid being a slave state.

West Virginia broke off from its parent-state because it wished to stay in the Union.  Like Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, it entered the Union as a slave state -but it entered as a loyal slave state.