[Girlene]

With respect back I see it differently. Obama didn’t campaign in WVa because he knew he had no shot of winning. Obama’s base is black, white elites, and the youth vote. He doesn’t sit well with white rural, suburban, union, less liberal democrats. (Thank you Rev. Wright.)

I don’t think a democrat Congress would control or restrain either one of them from turning this country farther left. Either way, Obama has a problem with a democrat base that his supporters, to include the media, are trying to keep quiet. West Virginia voters had the knowledge that Obama was the presumptive nominee. They sent him a message by 40 some points they don’t agree with their nominee.

[Wallace T.]

If McCain or his advisers are smart, they will use Richard Nixon's 1972 playbook and not Karl Rove's early 2000s one to win the general election. In 1972, Nixon made significant breakthroughs with certain demographics similar to those where Hillary is strong - rural and blue collar whites in the inland Northeast, the Great Lakes, the Ohio Valley, and Appalachia. Nixon also picked up more Jewish votes than any other GOP Presidential candidate since Warren Harding. (His fierce anti-Semitism was not publicly known at the time.)

However, McCain will need a Spiro Agnew to throw some rhetorical red meat to conservatives. Perhaps Mike Huckabee will fill the bill.