What was up with Gaston Caperton in WV?

[Vega]

Stumbled upon the guy in some research I was doing, and he seems quite Liberal (that was my impression) and was a good Governor. I'm surprised he never went further in politics. He would have made a good VP pick for Obama in 2008.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Stumbled upon the guy in some research I was doing, and he seems quite Liberal (that was my impression) and was a good Governor. I'm surprised he never went further in politics. He would have made a good VP pick for Obama in 2008.

The main obstacle was, in my opinion, the fact two of West Virginia seats were taken by well-secured incumbents (Byrd and Rockefeller). Nowhere further to go.

[Maxwell]

What's interesting is that he was primaried strongly from the left and the right in his re-election bid, only to win convincingly in the general election. That's why I got the impression that he was a right-of-center Democrat, but reading up more on him it sounds like he was pretty good as far as West Virginia is concerned.

[Potus]

What do you mean what was up with him? He was a liberal Democrat. West Virginia was a left-of-center state. This is something that people here don't necessarily understand. We haven't just become more Republican. Conservatives didn't just "sort" out of the Democratic Party. The people became more conservative.

[136or142]

What do you mean what was up with him? He was a liberal Democrat. West Virginia was a left-of-center state. This is something that people here don't necessarily understand. We haven't just become more Republican. Conservatives didn't just "sort" out of the Democratic Party. The people became more conservative.

The most likely cause for this is the enormous decline of unions in West Virginia.

[Vega]

What do you mean what was up with him? He was a liberal Democrat. West Virginia was a left-of-center state. This is something that people here don't necessarily understand. We haven't just become more Republican. Conservatives didn't just "sort" out of the Democratic Party. The people became more conservative.

It just seemed surprising to me that someone who was as left of center as he was able to get elected, even if WV was more Liberal back then. He would have fitted in up in Massachusetts. Do you have a personal opinion of him?

[Young Conservative]

He became President of the college board in 1999. He would've never won the youth vote that the democrats need. (Lol)

[Indy Texas]

I've always liked how West Virginia politicians have the most incongruously upper crust-sounding names.

John D. Rockefeller, IV
William Gaston Caperton, III
Cecil Underwood
Jennings Randolph
Carte Goodwin
Booth Goodwin

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

POTUS is right. I've heard the words "welfare state" used by relatives who lived there in the 1970s in a serious, non buzzwordy way. The state was the epitome of New Dealism.

[Indy Texas]

Another example of this - the fact that WV does not use capital punishment, while all other Appalachian/Southern states do.

[RINO Tom]

What's interesting is that he was primaried strongly from the left and the right in his re-election bid, only to win convincingly in the general election. That's why I got the impression that he was a right-of-center Democrat, but reading up more on him it sounds like he was pretty good as far as West Virginia is concerned.

As POTUS said, I'm not sure this sentence makes much sense.   "For West Virginia" for that time is almost analogous to being a good Democrat "for Delaware" today ... sure, the state is somewhat different than "stereotypical" Democratic bastions like New York or Rhode Island, but it's reliably Democratic.  So was West Virginia.

[Intell]

West Virginia was quite a leftish place, like many areas like this in the UK, though with a less socialist aspect. Economically it was leftish, socially not, though not averse to voting for a social liberal, if it was perceived they were still looking out for their laboring interests. As with the decline of labour unions, and a shift in the democrats message that stopped attracted people in these areas, people stop being of democratic inclination, and went to the republican party, in many ways, adopting many of their policies, causing a huge shift to the right. In any way, working class WV’s ( as was the case in the mid-west and (white) working class territories) stopped voting for the democrats rather than voting for Republicans, this was the case until Trump came, in where many democratic non-voters voted for Trump, or even those who voted for Obama, voted for Trump as a revolt against the establishment.

The lack of a solid democratic vote, and a union base, switched people to the right, as the people began adopting a variety of their policy, making democrats have to be conservative to win, though these people in many a cases struggling, still have aspects of democratic policies in them, which allows for democrats to still win, from what I’ve seen, if progressive ones, down ballot, or in the state senate.

[SATW]

Wasn't Caperton corrupt? Maybe explains why he never went as far as he could've.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Wasn't Caperton corrupt? Maybe explains why he never went as far as he could've.

No, but the word "flamer" has come up from time to time when relatives discuss him. With a name like that, it's hard to see why.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I've always liked how West Virginia politicians have the most incongruously upper crust-sounding names.

John D. Rockefeller, IV
William Gaston Caperton, III
Cecil Underwood
Jennings Randolph
Carte Goodwin
Booth Goodwin

Byrd was born as Cornelius Calvin Sale Jr.