Not Kerry country, but not quite Bush country either

摘要

If John Kerry is to recapture any of the states George Bush won four years ago, it should be West Virginia. The state has twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans. Both Democratic senators won in landslides. This year Joe Machin seems likely to repeat the feat in the governor's race: he is 32 points ahead. Al Gore ignored West Virginia till the last minute, was seen as a radical environmentalist in a state where coal is vital and was accused by the National Rifle Association of wanting to take your guns away-akin, says the current chairman of the state Democratic Party, of wanting to take your baby-pictures away. And he still lost by only six points. Mr Kerry, a veteran in a state where the armed forces are promi-nent, has not made those mistakes.