Published: February 16, 2008 08:25 pm            

Southwest voters not in lock step with Va. majority

BLUEFIELD, Va. — The votes were barely in Tuesday night for last week’s Virginia primaries, when the counting got underway in earnest. Statewide, U.S. Senator Barack Obama, D-Ill., easily defeated U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., in the race for Virginia’s Democratic delegates, and U.S. Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., easily defeated former Gov. Mike Huckabee for the Republican party’s delegates, but that’s not what Southwest Virginia voters said.

“The great Southwest went its own way in both parties on Feb. 12, and historically, it’s not that unusual,” Dr. Larry J. Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics said. “Southwest Virginia has much more in common with Tennessee (carried by Hillary Clinton) or West Virginia (carried by Mike Huckabee) than with northern or eastern Virginia.”

Clinton dominated the numbers race in the Southwest counties of Tazewell, Bland, Giles and Buchanan earning lopsided victories in each county with the most lopsided returns coming from Buchanan County where she received almost 90 percent of the Democratic primary vote compared to Obama’s 9 percent.

“Many Democrats in the Southwest fit the main demographic categories being won by Clinton — white, annual incomes of under $50,000 and those aged 60 and up,” Sabato said. “Similarly, many Republicans in the Southwest track the demographic categories being won by Huckabee — conservatives and evangelical Christians. Not every person who voted for Clinton or Huckabee fits those labels, but most do.”

While he lost the statewide Republican vote, Huckabee posted higher totals among Republican voters of the Tazewell, Buchanan, Giles, Bland area, but his Southwest Virginia margin over McCain, who easily won statewide, wasn’t as great as the divide between Clinton and Obama in the southwest.

“Senator Clinton carried almost all of the 9th Congressional District,” David Larimer, chairman of the Tazewell County Democratic Party said. “I think that by no means is it over,” Larimer said in reference to the campaign for the Democratic party’s nomination for president. “The two candidates (Obama and Clinton) are neck and neck in the next big primaries in Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania. If one of the candidates gets a lot of delegates in one of those three primaries, everything could change.”

Larimer attributed Clinton’s good showing in Southwest Virginia to appearances her husband — former President Bill Clinton — made on her behalf. “There’s so much anti-Bush sentiment in this part of the state that I think the Democratic party is really excited about this election. I think the voters are motivated.”

Indeed, Clinton received the greatest number of votes cast in the four-county region of Tazewell, Buchanan, Giles and Bland counties. Clinton received 6,209 Democratic primary votes in the four-county region compared to Obama’s 1,427 Democratic primary votes in Tazewell, Buchanan, Giles and Bland. Huckabee received 2,521 Republican party primary votes in the four-county region while McCain received 1,482 votes in the four counties.

“I voted for Mike Huckabee yesterday, but I think it’s time that we got down to business now that it’s clear that John McCain will be our nominee,” Bobby May, past chairman of the Buchanan County Republican Party said in an e-mail message immediately following the Virginia primary. “The threat is too great to nitpick McCain on the issues. He is clearly better than either of the two liberal alternatives.”

The outspoken May observed that Buchanan County’s Democratic Party voters gave 2,243 votes to Clinton compared to the 226 primary votes cast for Obama in spite of Obama’s endorsements by Buchanan County Democratic Party chair (Russell Vern Presley II), Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine and U.S. Rep. Frederick C. “Rick” Boucher, D-Va. He said that while Republican voters supported Huckabee in the primary, the Buchanan County Republicans will embrace McCain because of his stance in the war on terrorism.

“One thing too that will help John McCain against either of the two liberal Democratic candidates is that he will be pro-coal while the liberal tree-huggers can only be viewed as anti-coal which equates to being anti-coal jobs. They will never sell that (message) in the coalfields of southern West Virginia or Southwest Virginia,” May said.

Regardless of the statewide trends, many voters of Southwest Virginia often dance to the beat of a different drummer.

— Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com

        

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