Appalachia's reaction to Obama has been largely based on race. While the GOP has made in-roads in State Legislature, if Justice can distance himself from the national party, he might make it. I'm not sure why so many people here think he will be crushed.
It's not race, it is the loss of jobs as a result of the Democratic platform. When the state's only major industry is Coal mining and their own party starts to oppose it, they vote against it. The same exact thing happened in western PA (not Pennsyltucky land too). Also, Al Gore.