Hillary Wins, But The REAL News Is...

As expected, Hillary Clinton has won the Democratic primary in West Virginia by an overwhelming margin of landslide proportions. But the REAL news is what the exit polling shows concerning Barack Obama.

According to West Virginia Democrats who voted today, Obama is not trustworthy. 51% stated that the candidate has a problem with credibility and honesty.

In addition, one-third of Hillary's supporters said that if Obama is the nominee they will jump ship and vote for John McCain. Another 24% said they would stay home.

And the most damning fact of all in the exit polling is that upwards of 55% of Democrats in West Virginia stated that they would NOT vote for Barack Obama if he is their Party's nominee. This means that in a head-to-head matchup with John McCain, Obama would lose by double-digits, similar to his loss to Hillary tonight.

Apparently the 'Reverend Wright' factor has hurt Obama much worse than anyone had anticipated.

And that's not all. Obama faces Kentucky Democrats next, who are similar demographically to West Virginia Democrats. We can safely bet he will lose big time there as well.

John McCain, thus, has a golden opportunity at this moment in time to make significant inroads into 'Reagan Democrats' in the rust belt--Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, etc. Hillary has appealed to these mostly blue-collar white workers, but with her campaign faltering and over 20 million dollars in debt, McCain has an open window.

Obama will not get the Reagan Democrat vote. He is perceived as elitist and untrustworthy. He has made fun of their guns, religion, and lifestyle. For Obama, the chance to get these votes is over.

This is why McCain MUST stop talking about 'global warming' and come to Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, and Illinois to talk about the nation's defense and 'values,' i.e., the sanctity of human life, the importance of family and worship, the commonly-held view in the heartland that a human being's most basic right is to self-defense and self-protection, i.e., gun rights.

McCain must also discuss with these voters economic issues, such as jobs, gas prices, healthcare. But he must do so in such a way that he doesn't scare these voters with any notion of a tax hike. In hard times, much to the chagrin of money-grubbing Democrats, voters do NOT want the government taking more money out of their paychecks at a time when they are having trouble making ends meet.

Thus, the West Virginia Democratic primary has shown us the stark reality of Obama's glaring weakness and vulnerability. McCain should move quickly to capitalize on that vulnerability.