West Virginia & The Democratic Race

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/13/us/politics/14cnd-campaign.html?hp

In yesterday's West Virginia primary Hillary Clinton had a sweeping victory over Barack Obama. While this may not have had a substantial affect on the final outcome of the race, it speaks volumes about West Virginia as a place. In the NY Times article, the author implies that inherent racism within the state was the main reason for the results, "Mr. Obama’s advisers downplayed the West Virginia loss, describing the state as demographically unfriendly territory — the primary electorate was 95 percent white; 70 percent did not attend college." While this may or may not be the actual case, it is interesting notion as it relates to the concepts of place. Why did race become such a factor in this primary election but in other historically racist areas of the country it did not?