Well, polling has ended on my question of whether West Virginia voters are ready to vote for a black presidential candidate this fall. Of the five readers who voted, three said yes and two said no. This result leads inexorably to two conclusions. First, I need to undertake some efforts to promote this blog and enlarge my audience (no offense to my current loyal readers). Second, at least three of my readers have a good bit more faith in my fellow West Virginians than I do. They have me at something of a disadvantage in the verifiability of their view: If Obama wins West Virginia in November (assuming he gets the Dem. nomination) they will be proven correct, but if he doesn't it will be hard to empirically ascribe that to racist views rather than Obama's political weaknesses (his liberalism on social issues, his inexperience, etc.) Still, I think the course of how the general election campaign proceeds in the state may tell us some things about the mindset of West Virginia voters, including (perhaps) some things that will support my pessimism. We shall see. Thanks to all who voted.
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