Harlan County, Kentucky

[Rob]

Harlan County. In the heart of the Appalachian coal belt, and impoverished, it was once famous as Harlan County, USA, the Oscar-winning documentary about a grueling 1976 strike in which several murders were committed.

Proud but poor, the county was a Union stronghold in the Civil War and voted for the Party of Lincoln up through the Depression. Then the UMW came, and told the miners that the President wanted them to join the union. They joined, and it was now "Bloody Harlan," torn apart by violence between workers and owners. The workers won, and Harlan became a Democratic stronghold almost overnight (Franklin Roosevelt, in 1936, was the first Democrat ever to win here).

And so it remained for the next 75 years or so, voting Republican only in 1956 and 1972. Walter Mondale won there, for Christ's sake.

But things changed. Here, presented without further comment, are Harlan's presidential results from 1996 to 2008, with the "swing" margins in brackets.

1996: Clinton 58%, Dole 33%, Perot 9%
2000: Gore 51%, Bush 47% [R+21%]
2004: Bush 60%, Kerry 39% [R+25%]
2008: McCain 72%, Obama 26% [R+25%]

2008 Democratic Primary: Clinton 85%, Obama 9%, Uncommitted 4%

Hillary Clinton won 4,228 votes in the primary; Barack Obama won 2,586 votes in the general.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Turnout figures would be useful - I'm not a paying member anymore (will be whenever I remember to send off the money, but I've had other worries recently) so I can't do that myself

[phk]

Harlan County. In the heart of the Appalachian coal belt, and impoverished, it was once famous as Harlan County, USA, the Oscar-winning documentary about a grueling 1976 strike in which several murders were committed.

Proud but poor, the county was a Union stronghold in the Civil War and voted for the Party of Lincoln up through the Depression. Then the UMW came, and told the miners that the President wanted them to join the union. They joined, and it was now "Bloody Harlan," torn apart by violence between workers and owners. The workers won, and Harlan became a Democratic stronghold almost overnight (Franklin Roosevelt, in 1936, was the first Democrat ever to win here).

And so it remained for the next 75 years or so, voting Republican only in 1956 and 1972. Walter Mondale won there, for Christ's sake.

But things changed. Here, presented without further comment, are Harlan's presidential results from 1996 to 2008, with the "swing" margins in brackets.

1996: Clinton 58%, Dole 33%, Perot 9%
2000: Gore 51%, Bush 47% [R+21%]
2004: Bush 60%, Kerry 39% [R+25%]
2008: McCain 72%, Obama 26% [R+25%]

2008 Democratic Primary: Clinton 85%, Obama 9%, Uncommitted 4%

Hillary Clinton won 4,228 votes in the primary; Barack Obama won 2,586 votes in the general.

2012 will be interesting. Certainly wont be the consistent 20% GOP swings since 2000.

[Rob]

Turnout figures would be useful - I'm not a paying member anymore (will be whenever I remember to send off the money, but I've had other worries recently) so I can't do that myself

I'm no longer a paying member, either, but here are the total votes cast in the last three presidential elections.

2000: 10,535
2004: 11,070
2008: 9,914

There was obviously a significant turnout drop in 2008, but in 2004 Harlan cast more votes than in pro-Gore 2000! Why?

Mining company executives maintain that coal is still king in Harlan County, but the members of Cranks Holiness Church disagree. There’s only one king in town, and His name is Jesus Christ. “If you want to get to heaven, the only way is through Jesus, our Lord and Savior,” Fee says.

This is one place we're not likely to carry again anytime soon, regardless of the history of class warfare.

[War on Want]

Harlan County will only move farther to the right during the next few years. It is pretty depressing to think that such a hotbed of union activity and class warfare has moved to GOP so quickly.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Mining company executives maintain that coal is still king in Harlan County, but the members of Cranks Holiness Church disagree. There’s only one king in town, and His name is Jesus Christ. “If you want to get to heaven, the only way is through Jesus, our Lord and Savior,” Fee says.

Yeah, organised Evangelical Churches are quite strong in Harlan - which is unusual for that part of the world, actually. Same is true of Bell county.

[minionofmidas]

Evangelical traditions in that part of Appalachia - from Harlan and Bell on south into Tennessee - are ancient and somewhat out of the mainstream. Full Gospel Pentecostals ("holy rollers"), Old Regular Baptists, that sort of thing.