NELLIS - Tom McComas knows that Boone County is an island of blue in a deep red sea on maps that show Tuesday's presidential results in West Virginia.
"I was tickled to death, very happy," said McComas, a Nellis resident and former DuPont employee. "We needed some change."
President-elect Barack Obama won only seven counties in West Virginia over his Republican opponent, John McCain. But he won Boone County by 11 percentage points, his largest margin in the state.
Obama supporters faced an uphill climb in Boone County, as he wasn't the first choice for many who usually favor Democrats. Their early enthusiasm was spent on Hillary Clinton.
"That's who they wanted," said Circuit Clerk Sue Ann Zickefoose, chairwoman of the Boone County Democratic Party, whose courthouse office was decorated with John F. Kennedy and Harry Truman memorabilia. A snapshot of Bill Clinton's Beckley rally on Saturday is her computer screen-saver.
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Zickefoose said United Mine Workers President Cecil Roberts has strongly backed Obama, and visited the county on the "Tour for Change" bus Oct. 18. The crowd that day was modest, but it got people in the community talking, she said.
Major teachers' unions also backed Obama over McCain. American Federation of Teachers-West Virginia President Judy Hale said union members helped make phone calls, went door-to-door and sent out direct mailers to support Obama in Boone County.
