Election 2008: President

The latest Federal Election Commission filings show that Barack Obama continues to outraise John McCain among West Virginians, The Associated Press reports -- though the Democratic presidential hopeful's campaign notes to AP that the money race is but one barometer of the White House contest.

"Obama has received more than $208,000 from West Virginians, including about $38,500 last month, the FEC filings show," the article said. "McCain attracted about $16,400 in May, bringing his in-state total near $88,600."

The Washington Post casts West Virginia in the red column in a lengthy Sunday piece that contrasts that trend with movement in the opposite direction by Virginia.

U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-2nd, told that newspaper that Democrats "do appeal more to an upper-middle-class, higher-educated, faster-moving kind of voter. Voters here are still waking up in the morning saying, 'I want to make sure my kids get fed and that someone's not trading away my constitutional rights.' "

Stateline.org, meanwhile, is the another to remove West Virginia from the roster of 2008 battleground states. The nifty interactive map includes the Mountain State among 19 it ranks as "safely Republican."

The "Out There" column specifically notes the departure of West Virginia from the list of "purple states:"

Once a staunchly Democratic state, it has voted Republican during the past two presidential elections and gave Obama such a primary drubbing that Out There can no longer justify calling it purple.

Also referring to the May 13 outcome as a "drubbing," AP notes as well that "Exit polling conducted for The Associated Press during the Democratic primary indicated that little more than a third of Clinton's supporters would back Obama, who received about 26 percent of the vote, were he the nominee."

Update: Gov. Joe Manchin is also quoted in the Post piece. After telling the reporter "he has to convince West Virginians that national Democrats would not be able to take away gun rights, even if they wanted to," the governor is quoted as saying, "I've encouraged Barack. I say, 'Please come back to West Virginia and sit down and talk to people so they'll get to know you.' "