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In Virginia, Turnout Matters
October 26, 2012 | 35 comments
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Hope Turned Into Damnation
October 22, 2012 | 38 comments
Special Report
Coal Shoulder
Virginia coal country turned out, but it was just too small.
ABINGDON, Va. — While the coal issue drove higher Republican voter turnout and percentages in Virginia coal country, it wasn’t nearly enough to change Tuesday’s election outcome in the state.
According to unofficial vote totals released by the Virginia State Board of Elections after midnight, President Barack Obama had won the state with 50 percent of the vote to challenger Mitt Romney’s 48 percent.
Virginia, a swing state that wasn’t called until hours after Obama’s victory was announced, had faced a constant bombardment from both sides with ads and campaign events.
The large but largely rural region of Southwest Virginia, which relies on coal mining as a key economic driver, had received a lot of attention from the Romney-Ryan campaign with visits in the weeks leading up to the election.
The strategy, supporters said, was to drive higher turnout in areas with strong support, in hopes of bringing swing state Virginia back to the Republican side of the election equation this year. But it wasn’t enough.
In Virginia’s seven coalfield counties and one city, a total of 2,787 more people voted Tuesday than on Election Day in 2008. Overall, Romney gained 10,100 votes over the 2008 Republican total — a number that could have made a big difference if the Presidential race had been closer statewide.
Percentage-wise, Virginia’s coal region jumped from 61 percent Republican in the 2008 Presidential election to nearly 72 percent this year, with a similar trend reflected in some of the surrounding Southwest Virginia counties, which are tied to it economically.
The change was driven in part by a belief that Obama administration restrictions on air pollution and mining have drastically impacted the region’s economy, directly causing a downturn in the market for coal and leading to the layoff of thousands of workers.
By contrast, a Republican gain of less than one percentage point in the large, urbanized Northern Virginia county of Fairfax equaled a larger gain in terms of votes.
Based on the unofficial totals from the state board of elections, Fairfax County reported 29,636 fewer votes for the Republican candidate compared with 2008 and 56,409 fewer votes for Obama, for a net benefit to the Republican side of 26,773.
Still, Obama won Fairfax County by 82,592 votes — more than the total number of votes cast in Virginia’s coalfields.
In some ways, what happened in Virginia was similar to what happened all over the country Tuesday. Conservative voters may have been fired up about the perceived harm of Obama’s policies, but their anger wasn’t enough to defeat a larger Democratic trend.
In southwest Virginia, Republican Congressman Morgan Griffith, who unseated a revered longtime Democratic incumbent on coal issues in 2010, won re-election Tuesday over a new Democratic opponent by a margin of nearly two-to-one.
Griffith, who is to return to the U.S. House of Representatives for a second term, has spent his first as a member of the House’s vocal Republican majority.
The outcome of Virginia’s U.S. Senate race, meanwhile, helped the Democrats to retain control of the Senate as they have the White House. In a close race, former Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine defeated former Republican Gov. George Allen, keeping the seat in Democratic hands.
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Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 11.7.12 @ 6:15AM
If they have anything to do with coal they have no future now.
Von Mises Jr| 11.7.12 @ 7:36AM
Anyone with high debt or high expenses has no future. Unless you were living quite frugal, where does the average middle class family come up with several hundred dollars more next year every month for their taxes?
Al Adab| 11.7.12 @ 3:23PM
Heck guys, that was a campaign promise the first time around, remember?
LarryK| 11.7.12 @ 6:46AM
I wonder if Obama voters will connect the dots when their electric bill doubles and a gallon of gas hovers at $4 or $5 or when employers cut their wages and benefits. Oh no, they will follow the MSM that will blame those nasty Republicans.
Al Adab| 11.7.12 @ 3:24PM
Larry, that is exactly the economy they desire. Forced conservation for after all we plebs are to ignorant to understand what is best for us so they impose it surreptitiously.
Purp| 11.7.12 @ 7:45AM
America Won! The Middle Class Won! The Constitution Won! Gay Rights Won! BIG MONEY lost! You can't buy an election, and that's good news for America.
For all those who are sad, I have to say Romney gave a classy concession speech. As the last political thing he does, it's a good way to end after a loss to President Barack Obama.
Von Mises Jr| 11.7.12 @ 10:55AM
You probably think AmbASSador Stevens won too, but only if he got ploughed before he got snuffed.
PolishKnight| 11.7.12 @ 11:06AM
Purp is creaming his pants right now. Or at least he's paid to pretend like he is.
Either way, Purp, enjoy. I seem to recall that the Bolsheviks were happy when they won the USSR and were in charge. The problem is that winning elections and especially power is different than actually getting anything out of it.
It's going to be a cold winter and the rust belt citizens who turned out for Obama are waiting in line for $8 gasoline and acting like they're "winners" if they fill up a jug. Soviets were less excited waiting in line for toilet paper. Great, shutdown coal. Again, Bostonians are going to have a cold, expensive winter.
In the meantime, folks, there is a silver lining to this: With the military cutbacks in Northern Virginia, my wife and I who are military defense workers will be able to afford a house here. Obama voters will be hitting the road. I'll be sure to remind them of how great it is to be a democrat...
PolishKnight| 11.7.12 @ 11:10AM
Oops, I mean we're NOT defense workers. I stayed out of government work just in case something like this happened.
Or maybe now that Obama got the votes of the suckers, er, progressive whites of Ohio and Pennsylvania, he'll just cut them loose to starve to death while he still sends over money to Northern Virginia liberals. If that happens, I won't get to buy a house but I'll laugh my head off. Yeah guys, he "cared" about you! You're so smart! Hahahaha!
Al Adab| 11.7.12 @ 3:19PM
It will not be long before they turn on and eat their own. Once they have devoured our children through abortion and debt, they will have no enemies but themselves. It is always thus.
Crassus| 11.7.12 @ 10:28AM
This election was Southwest Virginia's last stand. God help our region now. The deluge is coming.
djn1313| 11.7.12 @ 11:51AM
Shameful that the selfish progressive liberal guilt-ridden whites sold out their country once again. After four years of obama's reign of destruction and lies they sold their souls to EVIL. May God have no mercy on them.
djn1313| 11.7.12 @ 11:46AM
These forgotten, mostly white, hardworking Americans have been ignored by the black racist in the WH. Thanks to the guilt-ridden liberal white traitors that voted for obama again the suffering for these Americans will continue.
PolishKnight| 11.7.12 @ 1:03PM
djn1313, it wasn't just the white liberals traitors that showed up. It was the fools. People in Ohio and Pennsylvania ought to know better. But they don't. They were raised by grandparents to believe that FDR and the unions would get them decent wages and "rob the rich". It's been about 100 years and that hasn't happened for them. They just don't "get it". They'll need to freeze their boots off during the winter with $8 Obamagas before they might get it. This is an intervention of their own making.
Archie| 11.7.12 @ 1:19PM
I spent a decade in SW Va IN THE 80s and want to thank the hard working and good people there for turning out. I apologize on behalf of my fellow northern virginians for screwing up.
Hardcard| 11.7.12 @ 2:45PM
They can beat their shovels and picks into solar windmill blades.
Al Adab| 11.7.12 @ 3:17PM
One of the first trial baloon proposals out today was the carbon tax to reduce the debt. All these people think of is tax when what the nation needs is a growing economy. Sadly they now believe that every facet of their agenda was ratified by the "mandate" that this election is claimed