JRE Buzz: Edwards wins 7% of Mountaineers' Votes

BW readers, there is a grin the size of West Virginia on my face tonight. Despite Edwards suspending his campaign on January 30th, 7% of West Virginia Democrats and it's possible it will become 8% before the night is out, gave their vote to JRE anyway.

Over at the DU and I'm certain it is being whispered at other blogs, that the folks that didn't vote for Hillary nor Barack were either sexist or racist, or maybe both. I'll concede it is possible, but doubtful. I think it had to do with the main issue that neither candidate addressed very well: the issue of poverty and what to do about it. My guess is that many of the people visited on the Poverty Tour last year found him to be sincere, and the other two less authentic.

Moreover, the Mineworkers' union never backed Clinton nor Obama. Its candidate was John Edwards.

Some of the pundits tonight believe it was a protest vote. I strongly reject that notion.

I can only wonder what Joe Trippi, Jonathan Prince, David Bonior, Elizabeth Edwards, Tracy Joan, and the online communications team from JRE's campaign must be thinking: how did this happen?

I hope they smiled a little, but knowing John and Elizabeth, the campaign was not never about them; it was about "we the people" and our kitchen table issues.

Hillary and Barack should bear in mind that poverty not take a back seat. Just look at James Lowe, who was from West Virginia: