Hillary Clinton's 40-plus point victory margin over Barack Obama in yesterday's West Virginia primary contains an important lesson for Democrats that they will ignore at their own peril, despite the mass media's pooh-poohing of the results.
West Viginia is a very blue collar, very white state. This is a group Hillary has carried heavily throughout the campaign and Obama has not been able to break into. In fact, he has purposely alienated them with his remarks to the toney San Francisco fundraiser about "their obsession with God and Guns." These kinds of voters are a powerful group in a lot of rust belt states that have been reliably Democratic in recent presidential elections.
Exit poll interviews in West Virginia, as well as other states such as Pennsylvania and Ohio, has these voters saying that while they voted for Hillary in the primary, they will vote for McCain in the general election. McCain's obvious patriotism, maverick streak and independent nature are popular with blue collar white voters, and Obama's elitism is not.
The media stressed how the Obama juggernaut continues to roll on, rather than Hillary's West Virginia victory. This is fine for a temporary high, but will rise up and bite them in November, if they continue to ignore the lesson.
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