The New Republic

The idea of Barack Obama winning North Carolina or perhaps Indiana, I think we have gotten accustomed to. But Obama winning ... West Virginia, a state where he got barely a quarter of the vote in the Democratic primary?That's what American Research Group says; in fact, it gives Obama a rather large, 8-point lead in the Mountaineer State. I'd have to say that I'm very, very skeptical of this one until I see it confirmed by another polling agency; this is READ MORE >>

Better late than never, right?Lots of interesting polling data today, but the headline is that our model has now pretty much fully caught up with John McCain's bounce -- attributing to him about a 1 point lead in the national popular vote. As a result, it also now regards him as the slight favorite to win the Electoral College. As I've disclaimed before, however, we are still in the immediate aftermath of the convention period, and as such all polls need to be treated cautiously. The next movement in the polls is still more likely READ MORE >>

I am not going to get into the game of saying whom Barack Obama should choose to be his vice-presidential nominee. I am chastened from having argued for John Kerry to pick John Edwards in 2004. And I am not going to say whom he shouldn't choose either. But I want to suggest that there are pitfalls to his endorsing the "dream ticket" of himself and Hillary Clinton, which prominent Clinton supporters like Diane Feinstein are promoting. READ MORE >>

First, there was West Virginia. Michael Crowley parsed Hillary's thinking going into the primary, noting that West Virginia is the place Bill belongs. READ MORE >>

In retrospect, Barack Obama may be lucky he didn't win Indiana last week. Why? Suppose he had--there would have been immense pressure on Hillary Clinton to drop out of the race, which she might have done. Given that around seven percent of West Virginia Democratic primary voters pulled the lever for John Edwards, who dropped out of the race more than three months ago, there's a pretty decent chance Obama would have lost West Virginia, or at the very least would have come up short of 50 percent. READ MORE >>

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The New York Times, reporting from the West Virginia convention earlier today: An interview with John McCutcheon, a state consultant for Mitt Romney, made clear why he is expected to win easily. “We have had the only organizational presence in West Virginia to speak of,” said McCutcheon. “It’s all Romney all the time.”... READ MORE >>

The next stop on TNR's Super Tuesday Primer is the lovely state of West Virginia: READ MORE >>

In June 2004, I went door to door in a white, working- class neighborhood of Martinsburg, West Virginia, a small blue-collar town in decline. There, I found voters disillusioned with both the Iraq war and the flagging economy. But, when I returned five months later-- the Sunday before the election--I had difficulty digging up anyone who didn't plan to vote for George W. Bush. READ MORE >>

At first, McCarthyism was a partisan affair. Wisconsin’s junior senator rocketed to political stardom in February 1950, when he told the Republican Women’s Club in Wheeling, West Virginia, that Harry Truman’s State Department was infested with Communists. As that year’s midterm campaign progressed, Joe McCarthy’s staff helped doctor a photo of Maryland Democrat Millard Tydings, making him appear to be huddled with former U.S. Communist Party chief Earl Browder. READ MORE >>