A West Virginia Double Whammy

June 19, 2012

On the same day that Governor Earl Ray Tomblin announced he will not attend the Democratic National Convention, national Democrats made a six-figure advertising buy to boost Tomblin’s campaign.

The buy was made by America Works USA, which was active in the 2011 governor’s race and funded by the Democratic Governors Association (DGA).

“The national Democrats’ decision to parachute into West Virginia is a classic example of a political double whammy,” said RGA communications director Mike Schrimpf. “Earl Ray Tomblin is trying to distance himself from the national Democratic Party while simultaneously benefiting from their largess. Earl Ray can’t have it both ways.”

“At the same time, the national Democrats’ efforts to boost the Tomblin campaign confirms that even President Obama’s most liberal and ardent supporters recognize how unpopular the President’s energy policies have become in energy-rich states,” Schrimpf added.

PoliticsPA Analysis: Obama’s WV Problem Stretches into PA

“A significant portion of western and central Pennsylvania Democrats declined to vote for Barack Obama in the April primary, an analysis by PoliticsPA has found. The results there resemble those of Arkansas, Kentucky and West Virginia, where the President lost around 40 percent of the primary vote to no-name opponents or “undecided”. A review of county-by-county vote totals show that the President underperformed historic trends, as well as other Democrats on the ballot this year. Over 30 percent of voters left the presidential ballot blank rather than select Obama’s name in 27 counties. That’s compared to just 6 counties apiece for the two other unopposed statewide Democratic primary candidates, incumbent PA Treasurer Rob McCord and Auditor General hopeful (and first time statewide candidate) Eugene DePasquale. In southwestern PA minus Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, Obama’s undervote was about 10 percent higher than that of Ed Rendell, who ran unopposed for re-election as Governor in 2006. Undervote refers to the number of blank ballot selections as a proportion of total voters; in this case, the Democrats who voted in the primary but did not make a selection for President. …”

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