West Virginia Blue
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First set of numbers is poll in the field Oct 4-8, in parenthesis is the Sep 14-16 poll.
Obama has solidified support among Democrats and among Women. West Virginia is absolutely in play. This is great news for Obama and a huge blow to McCain.
I watched the debate at the Campaign for Change/Berkeley County Democratic Executive Committee HQ in Martinsburg tonight. Here's Tom Vogel's statement on the debate:
Statement of West Virginia Obama for America State Director On Barack Obama's successful performance during the second presidential debate:
Charleston, WV - Obama for America West Virginia State Director Tom Vogel issued the following statement at the conclusion of the second presidential debate between candidates Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain:
"Barack Obama's commanding and convincing performance during tonight's debate once again proved that he is the right choice for hardworking West Virginia families. Senator Obama understands the tremendous challenges facing our economy and our health care system, and he has a plan - that includes using clean coal technology - to make the nation energy independent in ten years. Tonight, West Virginians were presented with a choice between a candidate who is out of touch and a candidate who clearly defined his vision to lead West Virginia and the nation to better days."
Worse, Palin's routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric's questions for her "less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media." At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, "Sit down, boy."
When I last wrote, I was either bitching about Shelly Capito (R-Bush) or about the Obama campaign and their nutty fans. Since then, a lot of things have changed.
In the last two months, Senator Obama has shown himself to not only be a charismatic leader who can energize the otherwise unmotivated voter base, he's shown the temperament, leadership and judgment that this country badly needs.
For someone who voted for Hillary, and at various points in the primary season vowed to 'vote for McCain' if Obama won, the transformation of Obama to me has been utterly astonishing.
THE MCCAIN HEALTH CARE PLAN: PUTTING THE INTERESTS OF INSURANCE COMPANIES AHEAD OF WEST VIRGINIA FAMILIES
Families in West Virginia know that our health care system works better for insurance companies than working Americans. Nearly 255,000 West Virginia residents - and over 45 million nationally - lack health insurance today.[i] Rather than standing up to health insurance companies to reduce health care costs, John McCain's plan would tax employee health care benefits for the first time, send individual health care tax credits directly to insurance companies, and give even more power to the insurance industry.
John McCain's plan starts with taxing the employer-based health insurance benefits that over 915,000 West Virginians rely on for the first time in history.[ii] Expert analysis has found that while some individuals would benefit from the health care tax credits offered by McCain, the added tax would mean that 20 million Americans would lose their health insurance benefits. In West Virginia, over 99,000 individuals would lose their current health care coverage under the McCain plan.[iii]
The McCain plan also undermines state-level insurance protections by deregulating the insurance industry and allowing insurance companies to sell policies across state lines. John McCain has promised to get rid of the "worst excesses of state-based regulation" - which for families across the country means limits on insurance company discrimination against American families, access to lifesaving preventive care, and coverage of essential services for people with diabetes, mental illness and children with hearing issues. Instead of West Virginia families buying only insurance that meets West Virginia insurance company guidelines, under the McCain plan, insurance companies would be able to escape West Virginia state protections and sell insurance to West Virginia families and businesses from states that have less health care protections for their families.
Kos has the details on ads from Obama, McCain, and the RNC in W.Va. last week:
Two last points -- I like that West Virginia and Montana are still getting attention. Both Obama and McCain are spending in Wheeling, WV, which hits both SE Ohio and SW Pennsylvania. McCain is also in Parkersburg, which borders SW Ohio. But both Obama and the RNC are dabbling in Charleston, which is smack in the center of the state. Obama must be flirting with making a play for the state, while the RNC seems a bit worried:
Also, for those who haven't been paying close attention to polls, here's how the race looks after six public polls in West Virginia (from Pollster.com):
Has anyone been polled on Presidential preferences lately? This media drop may motivate some more public polls. If nothing else, I'm guessing we'll see some more polls after the debates are over.
I'm fortunate to have decent health insurance through work, but I still pay a lot out of pocket. My company pays about $20,000 annually for my health insurance. The average company pays about $12,000 for the health insurance of those fortunate enough to have employer provided health care - and the ranks of the uninsured grow daily.
Under John McCain's plan, we would be taxed as if that $20,000 or $12,000 was additional income to our wages so our taxes would go up.
But McCain says people without insurance would be given a $5,000 tax credit to obtain it. Now if our employers with their purchasing power for basically buying in bulk are only able to get the price down to $12,000 on average, what kind of health insurance do you think an individual could buy with just $5,000? Something to cover only the most catastrophic injuries and with incredibly high deductibles most likely. Now considering how much I have to pay out of pocket for a plan that costs my employer $20,000, I'm sure a $5,000 plan is basically going to be paying everything out of pocket until high deductibles in the thousands of dollars are met.
What else can we expect from a candidate like John McCain since his health care advisor wants to declare every has access to health care because everyone can go to the emergency room.
Meanwhile, the Obama campaign has turned Sarah Palin and Joe Biden's responses into an effective ad this morning.
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