Keith Judd, Texas Inmate, Gets 40 Percent Of Votes Against Obama In West Virginia Dem

Keith Judd, Texas Inmate, Gets 40 Percent Of Votes Against Obama In West Virginia Democratic Primary

By LAWRENCE MESSINA 05/08/12 11:16 PM ET

http://i.huffpost.com/gen/598897/thu...BAMA-large.jpg US President Barack Obama speaks during the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) 18th Annual Gala Dinner in Washington on May 8, 2012. (SAUL LOEB/AFP/GettyImages)

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Just how unpopular is President Barack Obama in some parts of the country? Enough that a man in prison in Texas is getting 4 out of 10 votes in West Virginia's Democratic presidential primary.

The inmate, Keith Judd, is serving time at the Beaumont Federal Correctional Institution in Texas for making threats at the University of New Mexico in 1999. With 83 percent of precincts reporting, Obama was receiving 60 percent of the vote to Judd's 40 percent.

For some West Virginia Democrats, simply running against Obama is enough to get Judd votes.

"I voted against Obama," said Ronnie Brown, a 43-year-old electrician from Cross Lanes who called himself a conservative Democrat. "I don't like him. He didn't carry the state before and I'm not going to let him carry it again."

When asked which presidential candidate he voted for, Brown said, "That guy out of Texas."

Judd was able to get on the state ballot by paying a $2,500 fee and filing a form known as a notarized certification of announcement, said Jake Glance, a spokesman for the Secretary of State's office.

Attracting at least 15 percent of the vote would normally qualify a candidate for a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. But state Democratic Party Executive Director Derek Scarbro said no one has filed to be a delegate for Judd. The state party also believes that Judd has failed to file paperwork required of presidential candidates, but officials continue to research the matter, Scarbro said.

Voters in other conservative states showed their displeasure with Obama in Democratic primaries last March.

In Oklahoma, anti-abortion protestor Randall Terry got 18 percent of the primary vote. A lawyer from Tennessee, John Wolfe, pulled nearly 18,000 votes in the Louisiana primary. In Alabama, 18 percent of Democratic voters chose "uncommitted" in the primary rather than vote for Obama.

Obama's energy policies and the Environmental Protection Agency's handling of mining-related permits have incurred the wrath of West Virginia's coal industry. With the state the nation's second-biggest producer of this fossil fuel, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and Sen. Joe Manchin _both Democrats have championed the industry – have declined to say whether they will support Obama in November.

Hillary Rodham Clinton beat Obama handily in the state's 2008 primary, and he lost the state to Republican John McCain in the general election. Polls show some of his worst approval ratings in West Virginia.


Brown, the Cross Lanes electrician, went to the polls Tuesday with his 22-year-old daughter, Emily. She planned to vote for Judd too until she found out where Judd has been living.


"I'm not voting for somebody who's in prison," she said.


She was certain about one thing: "I just want to vote against Barack Obama."

Video at tthe link

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Associated Press writer John Raby contributed to this report.

Keith Judd, Texas Inmate, Gets 40 Percent Of Votes Against Obama In West Virginia Democratic Primary

2067 Comments

Why felon Keith Judd did so well against Obama in West Virginia

Posted by Rachel Weiner at 09:46 AM ET, 05/09/2012

Keith Judd, who is serving a 17 1/2-year prison sentence for extortion at the Federal Correctional Institution in Texarkana, Texas, took 41 percent of the vote in West Virginia’s Democratic primary Tuesday night — 72,000 votes to Obama’s 106,000. He would qualify for convention delegates, if anyone had signed up to be a Judd delegate. (No one did.)

How did Judd get so many votes?

It’s likely not his past careers as a superhero and religious leader. Or his passionate FEC report ramblings. Simply put, West Virginia does not like Obama.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/ima...EeGcAEh2U4gA1g

Keith Judd got 4 in 10 votes in West Virginia, despite living in a Texas prison. (Anonymous - AP)

“I voted against Obama,” a 43-year-old electrician named Ronnie Brown told the AP. His daughter planned to vote for Judd too, until she found out he was in prison. “I just want to vote against Barack Obama,” she said.

Democrats outnumber Republicans in the state. West Virginia regularly votes in Democratic officials at the state level (its governor and all of its statewide elected officials are Democrats) and narrowly supported Bill Clinton in 1996. But the very rural state has never warmed to the current White House occupant.

“President Obama has no strong political allies in this state. A couple leading Democrats grudgingly support Obama, but say that only when they are asked,” said West Virginia radio host Hoppy Kercheval. “Several are openly hostile to him.”

Obama, not surprisingly, rarely visits the state.

The president angered voters with new Environmental Protection Agency policies, which some see as a “war on coal” and have stalled mining permits for the state’s coal mining industry. Both Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and Sen. Joe Manchin, both Democrats, have clashed with Obama on the issue, and neither has committed to supporting him in the fall.

“In talking to many West Virginians, they do recognize and realize that the president is working very hard to help working families across the country and in this state,” said state Democratic Party Chairman Larry Puccio. “It’s just that coal plays such a major role in West Virginia and folks are frustrated with this administration’s position.”

In the latest state-by-state Gallup poll, Obama’s approval rating in West Virginia was 32.7 percent. A recent poll gave former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney a 17-point lead over Obama in the state.

But Obama was unpopular in West Virginia before he took office.

In the 2008 Democratic primary, Obama lost West Virginia to Hillary Clinton by 41 points — even though her campaign was all but over.

In the fall, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) beat Obama in the state by 13 points.

Race likely plays some role here. In the 2008 primary, 2 in 10 white West Virginia voters said race was an important factor in their votes, second only to Mississippi. Those voters went for Clinton 8 in 10 times.

As for how Judd got on the ballot: West Virginia has very liberal ballot laws and Judd is an opportunist. He ran in the Idaho Democratic primary in 2008.
Obama wasn’t likely to win West Virginia’s five electoral votes this fall before last night — and the Judd result confirms he has almost no chance of carrying the state in November.

Potentially more interesting are the results from North Carolina, where 20 percent of Democratic primary voters chose “no preference” over the president. There's a chance more rural Democrats turned out to vote against gay marriage and skewed the results. But Romney didn’t do so well in the battleground state either; he won only 66 percent of Republican primary voters.

Obama also fared poorly in Oklahoma’s primary earlier this year, taking only 57 percent of the Democratic primary vote. Anti-abortion activist Randall Terry took 18 percent.

Race likely plays some role here. In the 2008 primary, 2 in 10 white West Virginia voters said race was an important factor in their votes, second only to Mississippi. Those voters went for Clinton 8 in 10 times.

As for how Judd got on the ballot: West Virginia has very liberal ballot laws and Judd is an opportunist. He ran in the Idaho Democratic primary in 2008.
Obama wasn’t likely to win West Virginia’s five electoral votes this fall before last night — and the Judd result confirms he has almost no chance of carrying the state in November.

Potentially more interesting are the results from North Carolina, where 20 percent of Democratic primary voters chose “no preference” over the president. There's a chance more rural Democrats turned out to vote against gay marriage and skewed the results. But Romney didn’t do so well in the battleground state either; he won only 66 percent of Republican primary voters.

Obama also fared poorly in Oklahoma’s primary earlier this year, taking only 57 percent of the Democratic primary vote. Anti-abortion activist Randall Terry took 18 percent.

Why felon Keith Judd did so well against Obama in West Virginia - The Washington Post