Losing West Virginia

Washington Monthly, April, 2005 by Charles Peters

Ominous news for Democrats comes from the Gazette's Tom Searls, who interviewed two political experts about the significance of Bush's victories in 2000 and 2004 by margins that grew from 6 to 13 percent. "Once could have been a fluke," the University of Virginia's Larry Sabato told him. "Twice indicates a new trend, especially because the margin was so much larger this past year." Robert Rupp of West Virginia Wesleyan College added: "2000 wasn't just the aberration that many Democrats had hoped.

The fact [Bush] won so convincingly shows West Virginia is a state that not only will Democrats have to work for, but possibly concede."