West Virginia's White, Pro-Coal Democratic Senate Candidate Fared Even Worse Than Obama
It was one thing for Democrats to lose in the deep South. The destruction of West Virginia's conservative Democratic consensus is something else.
Natalie Tennant (L), West Virginia Secretary of State, testifies during a Senate Water and Wildlife Subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill on February 4, 2014 in Washington, DC.
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In this season of red-state Democrats trying to distance themselves from President Barack Obama, Natalie Tennant stood out. The West Virginia secretary of state, who had run far ahead of Obama in her two elections, ran a late-summer ad that began with a picture of the White House and the candidate asking, "Where do they think their electricity comes from?" After Tennant sang hosannahs about West Virginia coal, she pulled a lever, and all power to the Obama White House was cut off.