By Lawrence Messina
Associated Press Writer
CHARLESTON
May 09, 2008 12:16 am
—
As their candidate rebuffs calls to bow out, several hundred West Virginians waited more than an hour Thursday to urge Hillary Clinton to continue her Democratic presidential bid.
Driven inside by rain, supporters packed the state Capitol’s Rotunda to see the New York senator during her three-state blitz in the waning weeks of the primary season.
Gary Johngrass drove up from Lincoln County to join the rally. The Air Force veteran of the Vietnam War cited two botched knee surgeries at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals among his reasons for supporting Clinton.
“It’s mainly been because of her support for the VA, and for getting more benefits for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans,” said Johngrass, 57. “They’re going to need help as they start coming back home.”
Clinton’s gas tax holiday proposal helped win over Angela White. The 34-year-old mother of two said $3.89-a-gallon gas prices have hammered her family and her neighbors in Logan County. That, in turn, has driven up the cost of food and most other goods trucked in to rural areas like hers.
“In this country, we should be able to take food for granted,” White said. “I just feel like she’ll lead us in a different direction than where we’ve been going.”
Her arrival delayed by more than an hour, the former first lady touted her energy proposals during her half-hour speech. She also promised the crowd that their state’s leading export, coal, “is not going anywhere” when it comes to future U.S. policy.
Clinton is expected to fare well in West Virginia’s primary on Tuesday. She has consistently outperformed Obama among white, older and working-class voters in competitive primaries. With the nation’s third-highest percentage of seniors, West Virginia’s median family income is roughly $12,500 below the national median of about $58,000.
The Mountain State also has a dearth of two key components behind Democratic rival Barack Obama’s primary successes. Blacks make up just 3.3 percent of the population, while its share of college graduates is more than 10 percentage points below the national average, according to U.S. Census figures.
But pressure on Clinton’s campaign to fold its tents has increased since Tuesday’s loss in North Carolina and narrow win in Indiana. Those at Thursday’s rally pray that doesn’t happen.
“I think that when you have a convention, you take it all the way to the convention because that’s why you have one,” Johngrass said.
Obama is planning to return to West Virginia, though his campaign said Thursday that the details of his visit were still being worked out. He last visited the state in March.
On Thursday, Max Kennedy, son of Robert and Ethel Kennedy, was in Huntington and Pittsburgh Steelers’ owner Dan Rooney was in Wheeling and Weirton to campaign for the Illinois senator.
West Virginia has 28 Democratic delegates to award, including 10 so-called “superdelegates.” Of those, three support Clinton and two back Obama. The rest remain undecided.
“I don’t think they should encourage her to drop out,” said Jean Teel, 75, a retired state employee from Charleston. “I was glad she won Indiana, but I was hoping for a larger margin.”
While Hillary Clinton headed to South Dakota and then Oregon after her Capitol rally, her husband, Bill, was crisscrossing the state to campaign for her. Bill Clinton, who campaigned in West Virginia last week, was visiting Philippi, Sutton, Fayetteville, Lewisburg, and Mercer County on Thursday. On Friday he plans to hit Madison, Williamson, Wayne, St. Albans, and Ripley.
While speaking to several hundred supporters at Holly Gray Park in Sutton, the former president said a large turnout in West Virginia and Kentucky would help quiet those who are urging his wife to bow out.
“They want you to vote in low numbers, so she doesn’t get ahead in the popular vote,” he said.
Besides those two states, the only primary elections left are in South Dakota, Oregon, Puerto Rico and Montana.
“If she stays in, it will be tough,” said Richard Cook, 56, a retired school principal from Wyoming County. “I just hope she does well in the last few states.”
More than 400 people came out for the Charleston event, their numbers buttressed by Capitol employees, visiting school children, the occasional tourist and workers scrubbing down the Rotunda’s exterior.
It also drew Republican Nathan Chill, 32. While leaning toward John McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee, the Charleston lawyer sees flaws in all the contenders. Chill wants to hear more from them about gas prices and help paying off student loans.
“I just wanted to see a presidential candidate,” Chill said. “Hopefully, they will all come here. I’d see all of them.”
———
Associated Press Writer Tom Breen contributed to this report from Sutton, W.Va.
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.
Photos
Times West Virginian