Would Hillary have carried AR & WV as the Democratic nominee in 2008?

[Beet]

Yes, spring polls had Obama losing by 20 points in Arkansas and 10 points in West Virginia, similar to his final margin of loss in those states. The same polls had Hillary leading. Clinton's lead would have quickly evaporated in the 2012 election, similar to how Obama's did in Indiana and North Carolina. The ironic thing is, Clinton failed to carry her appeal in those areas into the 2016 election. As late as 2013 there were articles claiming she would do well in Eastern Kentucky (!) In her book What Happened, Clinton said she just wasn't "wired" for populism and mused that may have been why she lost. But she was doing populism just fine in the 2008 primaries.