Why did WV vote for Bernie in the Democratic primary?

[Lord Admirale]

West Virginia has always been a heavily unionized and protectionist state.  Sam reason why he won such a huge upset in Michigan, despite being behind by as much as 40 percent in some polls.

Gotta agree with Oldies Freak on this one....

Additionally, Bill Clinton barely lifted a finger to protect the Coal Miners and the UMWA during the '93 strike, at a time where the Coal Operators were trying to close down Union Mines and shift operations to Non-Union Mines elsewhere within the region and country.

West Virginia Democratic Primary voters have a long history of supporting candidates of religious minority background (JKF in '60, Bernie in '16) that actually spend some time in the state, and talk about the real bread and butter issues concerning the vast majority of the state.

Bernie talked a common sense language for those of us that were born and raised in rural and small Mill town communities....

Clinton '16 was a very different candidate from Clinton '08.... She spoke the language of suburban Democratic Voters in '16, and neglected the core Democratic values going back to the New Deal era, and instead tried to do a compare and contrast with Bernie, where she went after him on Guns of all things early in the Democratic Party Primary debates, and unlike even Dukakis in '88 I don't remember her once making a pitch for rural and small-town voters during the primaries or General Election....

Or maybe they voted against this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksIXqxpQNt0

Bernie Sanders didn't speak any common sense, nor is he comparable to JFK. He's not as inspirational as you think outside of your little corner of socialism.

[Lord Admirale]

West Virginia has always been a heavily unionized and protectionist state.  Sam reason why he won such a huge upset in Michigan, despite being behind by as much as 40 percent in some polls.

Gotta agree with Oldies Freak on this one....

Additionally, Bill Clinton barely lifted a finger to protect the Coal Miners and the UMWA during the '93 strike, at a time where the Coal Operators were trying to close down Union Mines and shift operations to Non-Union Mines elsewhere within the region and country.

West Virginia Democratic Primary voters have a long history of supporting candidates of religious minority background (JKF in '60, Bernie in '16) that actually spend some time in the state, and talk about the real bread and butter issues concerning the vast majority of the state.

Bernie talked a common sense language for those of us that were born and raised in rural and small Mill town communities....

Clinton '16 was a very different candidate from Clinton '08.... She spoke the language of suburban Democratic Voters in '16, and neglected the core Democratic values going back to the New Deal era, and instead tried to do a compare and contrast with Bernie, where she went after him on Guns of all things early in the Democratic Party Primary debates, and unlike even Dukakis in '88 I don't remember her once making a pitch for rural and small-town voters during the primaries or General Election....

Or maybe they voted against this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksIXqxpQNt0

Bernie Sanders didn't speak any common sense, nor is he comparable to JFK. He's not as inspirational as you think outside of your little corner of socialism.

Thank you sir for once again providing an scintillating and extremely insightful analysis on the politics of West Virginia.

Once again, the high quality of your posts speak for themselves....

Sure, Clinton's statement on Coal definitely hurt her in this part of the country, but was one of only many factors that caused her Democratic Primary numbers to collapse in West Virginia, as well as other late Primary States, such as Kentucky for example, as well as in many of rural and small town communities throughout our great country.

Apparently sir, your knowledge of West Virginia politics is as extensive as your knowledge of the 1960 Democratic Primary, and the key role that West Virginia played in resetting the narrative within the '60 Dem Primary, where it was considered to be virtually impossible by all of the pundits that a Catholic could win in an overwhelmingly Evangelical and Protestant State.

Needless to say, in 2016 West Virginia Democratic Party voters supported a "Socialist Jewish" candidate, who actually talked about the real issues that WV Democrats were concerned about, traveled throughout the State listening, and sometimes agreeing to disagree, but *still showed up*, in a State that has long since been abandoned by both the Democratic and Republican Parties at the Presidential level....

Now Sir, I do not appreciate nor respect your personal attack, where you presume simply because of my current political avatar to make giant sweeping statements such as "He's not as inspirational outside of your little corner of Socialism".

I am assuming that you are unaware that even after the Democratic Primary and the General Election was over, Bernie Sanders went down a few months back to do a town Hall in the deepest part of Coal Country in WV, in a county that voted over 70% for Trump....

Sigh--- please take a bit more time before you post stale cliches and going off on a rampage against a poster whom you apparently presume certain opinions of solely because of that individuals avatar.

BTW: If you have some spare time, you might want to read this book, which I did almost 30 years ago, and West Virginia features prominately...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Making_of_the_President,_1960

Hell, here's where you can buy a copy....

https://www.amazon.com/Making-President-1960-THEODORE-WHITE/dp/B000O5M3QK

So, looking forward to chatting more with you later regarding the comparisons and contrasts between the '60 and '16 Democratic Primary Primary in West Virginia.....

You know you can answer my post without being smug and pretentious, right? That attitude cost the Dems 2016, and its comforting to see that the far-left hasn't learned their lesson.

Congrats on knowing the 1960 Democratic primary in West Virginia. If I'm in a situation where I'll need to know about who West Virginian Democrats supported in 1960, I'll give you a ring. Fair? And I promise I won't be smug and act "holier-than-thou" in an attempt to show myself as better

I am aware that Sanders went "deep into coal country," in fact I watched it live. Every state has liberals, and every state has conservatives. That crowd wasn't large, by the way. I'm pretty sure Ted Cruz could hold a town hall in San Francisco and he'd draw a crowd, albeit relatively small like Sanders.

BTW: Nice job ignoring the video link I posted ---*sigh*

Now excuse me, I'm gonna act smug on the forums tonight. Ta ta!