In AR and TN it was inevitable that they would turn blue, though KY, and especially WV were salvagable if the Democrats ran under the right platform (i.e. socially moderate, if not conservative, fiscally left, pro-union and pro-coal).
Coal is a dying industry. Solar power will generate more power than coal ever did in these states from here on. These states are poor in formal education, which serves demagogues of any kind. As Democrats become more conservative on legal precedent, diplomatic protocol, due process, and even law and order they spiral away from these states.
Obama seems to be the wave of the future in style and substance for Democrats, and that bodes badly for Democrats in the Mountain and Deep South.
