News
October 6, 2008
Hillary Clinton coming to Charleston on Friday

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Sen. Hillary Clinton is returning to West Virginia for a campaign stop, this time to endorse fellow Democrat Anne Barth.

The former first lady is scheduled to stump for Barth on Friday at the University of Charleston. The rally is free and open to the public.

Clinton last visited West Virginia just before her overwhelming win in the state's May presidential primary.

Barth is challenging Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, the only Republican in West Virginia's congressional delegation, in the 2nd Congressional District.

Several national political analysts have rated the 2nd District race as competitive, though Capito is favored.

Despite Clinton's victory in the state primary, Sen. Barack Obama captured the Democratic Party nomination and is fighting Republican Sen. John McCain for the presidency. Clinton contested the nomination to the end, but has since headlined several fundraisers and made several campaign appearances for Obama, as has her husband, former president Bill Clinton.

Tom Vogel, who heads Obama's presidential campaign in West Virginia, said he wasn't sure how much Clinton would stump for Obama during her visit.

"I know everywhere she goes she does campaign for Sen. Obama. I would hope that she would talk about and campaign for Sen. Obama when she's in town," he said, shortly after he learned for sure Monday afternoon that Clinton would be in Charleston on Friday.

"She's very popular," Vogel said. "I think she helps Anne Barth, I think she helps Barack Obama, I think she helps the whole Democratic ticket coming in.

Clinton will focus mostly on Barth, said Barth spokeswoman Talley Sergent, but will stump for Obama as well.

"She's been supporting Sen. Obama wherever she goes," Sergent said. "I don't think that's going to change here.

Barth was a longtime former aide to one of Clinton's Senate colleagues, Sen. Robert C. Byrd.

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Posted By: Anonymous (8:19am 10-09-2008)
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I want Hill to run in 2012. If not for BHO's cheating in the caucuses, Hill would have won. She was by far the most qualified and the best chance to get this nation back on track.
WV has loved the Clinton's for years and BHO didn't even bother to campaign here in the primaries and allowed the talking heads to paint us as racist. He will never get my vote.

Posted By: Anonymous (8:19am 10-07-2008)
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Is Hillary campaigning for McCain?

Posted By: Anonymous (6:21am 10-07-2008)
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As to the potential for the smear counterattack to be effective in places where fear matters more than the issues this year (fortunately, it appears that substance trumps fearmongering in most of America this fall), there is this from the new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll showing Obama with a 49-43 lead over McCain:

"And cautionary notes remain for Sen. Obama. The poll suggests that the first African-American to win a major party nomination could be vulnerable to race-based attacks tying him to unpopular black figures such as the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, his former pastor and Al Sharpton, an outspoken and controversial figure.

Thirty-five percent of all voters -- and 40% of white voters -- said those connections bother them. This is absent any candidate or party pressing hard on those themes, something Republicans have hinted they may start to raise more aggressively in the campaign's closing days."


Posted By: Anonymous (5:58am 10-07-2008)
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This says it all about the state of Democratic Party politics in West Virginia today. The party establishment was tumescent for HillBillary and, while most of them almost certainly liked & admired Obama, they just didn't think it was his time, or maybe not "his turn" (a distinctly Republican way of thinking) and, after Jeremiah Wright and Hillary's 41-point drubbing of him in the primary, a lot of them got cold feet, and then they got miffed when Barack told them this state's demographic didn't justify the allocation of major resources this fall. But Obama didn't get where he is by being stupid, and it was nice of his campaign to green-light an effort by talentless hacks like Vogel. So now Hillary's coming to town for Barth. That's very cool, but...Vogel isn't even certain that she'll stump in any significant way for Obama? Look, the presidential race has tightened in WV some, but in WV Barack won't withstand the vicious, smear, last-stand counterattack by Palin-McCain. Mark it dow

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