Kind of confused why people think WV is SO out of reach... They have a Democratic governor, two Democratic Senators, both state legislatures are majority Democratic and well over 50% of registered voters in the state are Democrats. The state voted for her husband twice and was fairly close to going for Gore in 2000. I honestly think 2008 and 2012 were pretty clearly "unique" given the fact that Obama was - let's be real - Black. If you don't think that isn't a factor in why WV appeared so "Red" in those two elections, then you simply didn't pay attention to the '08 primaries there.
Granted, as more and more older, rural, White Southern Democrats die off, all of these Southern states are becoming increasingly Republican. However, I think West Virginia is still very much in reach, and if a nominee like Christie could bring CO back into the Republican tent and maybe flip somewhere like Pennsylvania or NH or even Maine (which current polls suggest is possible), then WV could end up being a huge battleground state. FWIW, I think Obamacare will continue to hurt the national Democrats' brand in the South and West, and I'd expect a Republican to steal West Virginia again ... but if it's Clinton vs. Christie, I'd expect the race to be close.
Two possible explanations:
1. West Virginia was a very solid D state when the unions in the mining industry were strong. Now that the coal seams have been largely mined out the coal barons have far more power over workers and can revert to the old "my-way-if-you-want-to-work-at-all" attitude of the Gilded Age. Miners now endure a political and economic equivalent of a Stockholm syndrome.
Sure, it was Ohio, which really did matter in 2012, and not West Virginia - but one coal baron closed a mine for a day with workers getting no pay and told those miners to appear at a campaign rally/photo op for Mitt Romney. The ethos of the Gilded Age (you need a pay cut and to work more hours under the lash so that the owners can build their castles) has returned to the GOP.
If such breaks, then maybe West Virginia goes back to its D ways. Until then it is simply the newest state to take a pervasive swing from D to R (except perhaps Missouri).
2. West Virginia has never been liberal except on economic issues. It's very rural with no giant cities (Obama lost every county in 2012 in a 62-35 rout and all but seven counties in 2008 in a 55-42 split). He lost Kanawha County both years.
Kerry lost it 56-43, perhaps showing that a northern liberal city-slicker can no longer win the state. Gore lost it 51-46 (which shocked me). I couldn't see how a state that went by an absolute majority for Clinton in 1996 could go against someone similar in political views four years later.
It was more Democratic than the national average in the Reagan blowout of 1984, and it went for Mike Dukakis in 1988. But it can go against a Democratic nominee for President who is easily cast, at least locally, as an extremist out of touch with the culture. It went 63-35 for Nixon against McGovern in 1972 even if it went absolutely for Humphrey in 1988.
....Did Al Gore fail to make appearances in West Virginia? Had he won the state he would have won the Presidency. Dubya may have been less than the brightest bulb in American politics, but he was no less a city-slicker than Gore. Or -- is Barack Obama the equivalent of George McGovern in West Virginia?
