One last Kentucky tidbit

No one was surprised by Hillary Clinton's absolute dominance in the hills, hollows and other rural stretches of Kentucky in the state's Democratic presidential primary Tuesday. But as she rolled up an overall victory margin of 35 percentage points over Barack Obama in the state, one local result stands out.

Magoffin County -- which according to the Lexington Herald-Leader has been identified by the Census Bureau as "the least diverse place in the nation" -- delivered Clinton her largest share of the vote among Kentucky's 120 counties.

She racked up 93% of the vote in Magoffin (named for a former governor and located in the state's eastern half). In raw votes, the totals were Clinton, 2,714; Obama, 146.

How homogenous is the county? According to the 2000 census, 99.29% of its population of 13,332 was white.

[UPDATE: For information on the primary result in the U.S. county with the largest concentration of black residents, go here.]

-- Don Frederick

Comments

[Tom in California]

Looks like Hillary's kind of place!

[Sharon]

Apropos of absolutely nothing, Magoffin County, KY is also where Hustler magazine's Larry Flynt hails from.

[jimmy]

yes, because the rights and opinions of people who are not diverse should not matter?

[Anthony King]

Who says racism doesn't exist in this country?

[EddienTexas]

Let the Republicans have the snake handlers and inbreeds and ignorance that goes with those so called uneducated WV and Kentucky voters.

Look at the way they live and look at the way they have voted locally. They cant govern themselves but America depends on their judgement to choose a candidate to lead all of us.

It is time to put these "Regan Democrats"(whatever that really means) into history with Jessica Lynch!!!!!!

[blarsen]

Hillary ought ot run for president of Kentucky.

[Keith]

93% - that's the same percentage by which blacks vote for Obama. So what is it that 90%+ voting preference says???

[Gordito Mojito]

...AND WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE BLACK VOTE IS OBAMA GETTING. REVERSE RACISM IS STILL RACISM.

[Seth]

I love being from Kentucky. Aside from Louisville and Lexington, it's the last bastion of wilderness untouched by the PC radicals obsessed with diversity.

[A Voter]

I'm not sure I understand why Hillary is so proud of her KY & WV victories. Is it really a good thing that she is winning the votes of uneducated, poor, rural whites? I mean, I don't think I'd want to trumpet the fact that I'm the choice of people who tend to be less intelligent and more racist than the average person...

Or is it more telling that Obama is winning the "educated voters"? Wouldn't all of this mean that Hillary is winning the people who don't know any better but Obama is winning the people who think for themselves and try to make fact-based decisions?

I don't see Obama going out and being so proud about winning the overwhelming majority of black voters. Why is Hillary accepting such blatant racism in her victories?

[Jeremy]

Seems most people ignore the 90% or so of black voters that support obama. Black voters are ridiculed for not supporting a fellow african american, while white voters are labeled racist for voting for a white woman. However, the overall percentage of white voters voting against there race's candidate is much, much higher than the percentage of black voters against obama. Looks like race hasn't entered the race at all, at least not for the "racists".

[Saryn]

Snake handlers and inbreeds? Wow can you say stereotyping? Yeah a few parts of kentucky are cuntry and redneck, but the inbreed thing is all stereotyping, and a bit disrespectful.

[Wil]

@ jimmy

Nobody said they shouldn't count. It's just an interesting data point.

You can draw your own conclusions as to why a population of 99.29% white voters voted so much higher for Clinton than the rest of the counties. Perhaps non-whites don't live there for the same reason the votes were so far scewed toward Clinton. Who knows.

[Kalli]

Clinton won in California and New York, states as diverse as anyone can imagine. What is the motive behind this tidbits? Only racists voted for Clinton. Get Real!

Well Obama getting more than 95% of black votes what does it tell you? Blacks are racists just like the Whites implied in this tidbits.

[Once a Kentuckian]

Having spent 10 years in Kentucky, visiting this part of Kentucky is literally like traveling back in time. Nice people, to be sure, no different than the rest of us, but living with 1930s technology and infrastructure (not incuding the cel phones) and 19th century mindsets. Isolated and insular. Ignore the poor at your own peril.

[Randy Russell]

Actually, the most surprising thing from that county is that 146 people voted for Obama. Extrapolating from the figures given in the article, only 95 were
non-white, so 51 whites voted for Obama in that county. I'll bet most of them are keeping mum about it, too.

[KYT-Breds]

EddienTexas, you prove that even the ignorant are entitled to their opinions. Perhaps we should just the likes of you Texans vote in our President. After all, look at the genius we have in office now.

[captainbarky]

I've driven Eastern KY. I don't think the future of the country will be decided in these areas.

Wonder how Barack got the 146 he did get. Maybe some of the folks thought his name was Brock Alabama, a good ol' boy from down south aways, and they didn't want the wimmin folk to start feelin' uppity.

[TruthIsTreasonComplianceIsPatriotic]

It's no surprise that those hillbilly barrios are full of racist rednecks. Have you ever seen Deliverance?

And no the reverse racism thing just doesn't hold. Black people have voted for whiteys before. King Clinton I owes being elected to the black voters so you can't call them racist. Just because they would prefer to vote for Obama than Queen Clinton II does not mean they are racist and would refuse voting for whitey.

Seriously is anybody going to say with a straight face that Kentucky and West Virginia are not hillbilly, redneck, cesspools of racism, bigotry and ignorance? Come on!

[tiddle]

How meaningful is it, to look at one particular county in the whole state of KY, and draw any conclusion out of it???

LA Times should be ashamed of itself, for trying to find some news story, ANY news story, that isn't news-worthy at all. While I'm a committed HRC supporter, and would switch to McCain, should BHO win the nomination, I do not believe a report like this is going to serve anyone anything good or new.

[fred]

hilarious! obama cannot win without half the party!!!! you guys for obama are elitist and hypocritical. When black people vote 92 to 8 for obama they have that right, but when a white county does it they are ignorant red necks who can't govern themselves. that is the pot calling the kettle black.

new polls, clinton smashes mccain in swing states; obama gets smashed.

go ahead and lose with obama and you get 4 YEARS OF REPUBLICAN RULE! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

[mimikoko]

Just what America needs - a bunch of people who cannot think or decide beyond their county!! America was not built on such narrow minded and uneducated people.
OPen up and join the rest of America in the 21st century. 99.9% - do these sleep together, eat together, and decide together? Do you people ever think by yoursleves or one decides and you all follow suit?

Just amazing.

[virginian]

You folks foget that more people go to NASCAR than all the other sports together, country music sells more than any other type of music, the white working class was leap frogged by the government in an attempt to help the poor black folks, it was virtually impossible in the 60's for a white person to get a wellfare check. These truths do go away because the media wants them to. History is not forgotten. The Democrats must face these points if they want any chance of winning in November. Just happens that Obama opens up these wounds.

[Balto]

I say KKKongratulations to the KKKlinton KKKampaign!

[Alfred Packer]

High levels of education does not equal ability to govern nor the ability to elect those able to govern all it gives you is the same skill set as a tape recorder.

The two presidents with the highest tested IQ:

Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon

[Seth]

ignorant snake handlers and inbreeds? Sounds you're guilty of ignorant stereotyping yourself Eddientexas.

Just b/c people don't vote for Obama doesn't mean they're racist. That's a terrible argument. Kentucky voted for Clinton in the 92 and 96 elections.

By the way, I didn't vote for Obama (didn't vote for clinton either) b/c I know that Obama is really is left of Mao, not b/c you think I'm an inbred racist snake handler. Behind all the platitudes and fluff, he and Michelle do have plans for change in this country. It's called socialism. Someone should send him the bill. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121038123776782371.html

For those of you who've been unfortunate enough to drink his kool-aid, see Obama's Laundry List of Lies at:
http://www.audacityofhypocrisy.com/fashion-shows/

Don't drink the kool-aid!!

[LonghornMama]

More pathetic pandering by the media. And what do you say to all of those largely African American communities who went for Obama by 92%?

[Kalli]

A Voter: Remember she won California and New York, the cultural, financial, educational, fashion, center of this country! Why discount her victories there. I think she won most of the states that ivy league educational institutions are.

[Media Hack]

What's the point?
7% of the folks in Magoffin are misogynists. so what.

[Eric]

And who are these "educated" voters that favor Obama? Bloggers, yes, online geeks, yes, credit hounds, yes, subprime borrowers, yes, humvee drivers, yes, starbucks drinkers, yes. I think you'll find the "educated" of America basically have no common sense. They think green but dive humvees, are stupid enough to drink $5 lattes, and are ignorant enough to overextend themselves in debt. These folks are why our economy boomed and is now failing. Time to pay up "educated" Americans.

[Wally]

The comments to this fact is interesting.

Because they voted for a white woman they are racist. Are the people who voted for Obama sexist? He is winning with about the same numbers in the African-American community. So they must be racist and sexist using the same logic.

Because they live in a rural area they must be inbred, snake handlers and ingnorant (My guess is that Eddien Texas was at the San Fran dinner with Obama and doesn't understand why people cling to guns and religion)

[Blake]

"I don't think I'd want to trumpet the fact that I'm the choice of people who tend to be less intelligent "

Since when does uneducated = less intelligent?

What about areas of our country/planet where education is not available? Does that mean that they are all unintelligent? A voter is a voter is a voter. Black, white, hispanic, male & female of all education levels. If you are 18, your vote counts.

[Uncledaddy]

It is appropriate that Kentucky voters in this county vote their preference just like everyone else. That it shows how little they have grown with the rest of the country is apparent. This too is fine.
What we can take away from this is, no matter the outcome of the primary race, they will have to re-work their frame of mind. Because, we have entered a new age of thought in this nation and all those out of step will either have to step up or watch progress pass them by.

[Media Hack]

What's the point?
7% of the folks in Magoffin are misogynists. so what.

[jrl]

Could it be the illbred white folks are simply smart enough to vote for the best candidate?

[Joe]

All good comments but what about the 90% plus of black voters that vote for Obama? Are they as racist as those in Ky? Maybe they are just the enlightened ones.

[NotSuprised]

Gordito Mojito,
What you state has been repeated over and over again. Just because it keeps getting repeated doesn't make it so.
Truth is many in WV. and KY say that they will never vote for a black person. Very different from from the fact that Blacks have been voting for white men in large numbers since the voting rights act. At the start of the primaries, Clinton had the majority of black voter support. Clinton race baiting and the fact that Obama is a stronger candidate on the issues changed that.

[Vince]

Hillary Clinton should come out and publicly say, "if you are only voting for me because you don't won't to vote for a black person, then I don't want your vote."

[Tom]

So what you're saying is that any white person that votes for a white person is racist. At least that is how the informtion seems to be presented. How do we even know how the 0.71 % of the population in Magoffin voted. What if they all voted for Clinton. Furthermore, the statistics only quote the overall population of the county and don't show what percentage of the population are even eligible to vote or what party they are registered to. Maybe the 0.71 % are all Republican and dote vote in the Democratic Primary anyway. Looks like another fine example of insufficient and poorly supported reporting to me.

[althea c. york]

Thank God for his son Jesus who did on the cross for our sins that we might live and have a right to the tree of live and if these people would read their bibles tha includes Hillary the world would better in much better shape and people would not have haterd in there hearts against the colored of a persons skin because god made us all in his on image and likeness. Thank you very much, MS. York, Atlanta, Ga.

[Megan]

"The hills, hollows and other rural stretches of Kentucky."
My, my my. Does anyone else perceive the undercurrent of snobbery implicit here ? In their rejection of B. Hussein Obama, the voters of Magoffin County are not demonstrating racism so much as simple common sense.

Give me Jesse Stuart over Jeremiah Wright any day.

Obama's rhetoric is undoubtedly very engaging to the effete wine & cheese crowd in Frisco, but be assured it doesn't resonate with rural Americans who adhere to traditional values and cherish individual liberty.

There's vastly more to America than Boston and San Francisco and all the public housing projects in between, a fact for which we might all fall to our knees in heartfelt prayers of thanksgiving.

99.29% white ? Frankly, Magoffin County sounds like the sort of place where one might still enjoy life in peace and quiet and not have to live in fear of muggers each time one steps out the door.

[maryjane]

May 21, 2008 (LPAC)--With her speech today in Palm Beach, Sen. Hillary Clinton has also placed Floridians' Constitutional right to have their votes fully counted, in the long progress of ending slavery and winning the right to vote for Black Americans and women. Clinton was speaking to senior citizens, some of whom lost their votes in the Florida recount debacle in the 2000 Presidential election.

She did it while making clear she is continuing until the Democratic National Convention, if necessary, to win this fight for Florida and Michigan, and calling on Sen. Barack Obama to join it.

On slavery or the right to vote: "In each successive generation, this nation was blessed by men and women who refused to accept their assigned place as second-class citizens ... The abolitionists and all who fought to end slavery, and ensure that freedom came with the full right of citizenship."

On the Constitutional principle: "We have certain core rights that no government can abridge and these rights are rooted in, and sustained by the principle that our Founders set forth in the Declaration of Independence. That a just government derives its power from the consent of the governed, that each of us should have an equal voice in determining the destiny of our nation."

On the Florida disenfranchisement of 2000--by corporate purging of public voter lists, Wall Street lawyers' disruption of recounts, and Supreme Court overrule: "We believe that the outcome of our elections should be determined by the will of the people. Nothing more, nothing less. And we believe the popular vote is the truest expression of your will. We believe it today just as we believed it back in 2000 when right here in Florida you learned the hard way what happens when you're votes aren't counted and a candidate with fewer votes is determined the winner.

"I believe the Democratic Party must count these votes. They should count them exactly as they were cast.

"Some say that counting Florida and Michigan would be changing the rules. I say that not counting Michigan and Florida is changing a central governing rule of this country--that whenever we can understand the clear intent of the voters, their votes should be counted."

[Some User]

It's just SO good to know that an article like this even exists. Who cares what color the people were? Isn't that being racist? I'm a white, middle-aged male, and I frankly don't give a rip about the color of the next president, senator, policeman, or milkman.

[craig]

The last time I checked the definition of diversity wasn't confined to race. So because the people of Kentucky and West Virginia are white they aren't diverse? We are apparently different enough from the suburnites on this blog to cause fear, which breeds prejudice. So thank you for contribution to the ever growing social problems in this country.

[Kim Hoover]

Based on the commentary here, it would appear that Obama supporters are simply too good for this country. They have apparently achieved a degree of righteousness that is only rivaled by Jesus Christ himself. I'm sure they are all in the top 3% of intelligence, give away 10% of their gross income to charity, provide hundreds of hours of community and public service per year. Because only then would they be entitled to their sanctimonious sniveling!

[maryjane]

Why is there no media noise on the blatant racism of Obama's black supporters whom are voting simply because he is black? And yet when Hillary quotes from an AP article on how she is overwhelming favored by white working class, the media calls that racism... Just more of media's blatant racist hypocrisy?

[dcw]

to A Voter - Who is the racist/elitist here?
You assume that less education and poverty equates to less intelligence and more racism? You assume that "uneducated, poor, rural whites" can't "think for themselves and make fact based decisions" Talk about stereotyping.
I'm guessing that you probably agree that these are the people who search for refuge in their guns and religion!

[Seth from Kentucky]

This is ridiculous. What about all the white republicans in all the other states who didn't vote for Obama in the primary? Were they all required to switch to being democrats and vote for him in the primary, and if they didn't that makes them all racists? The implications of this article and the comments shows the real ignorance is in those who have drunk the obama kool-aid.

proud to be black = cool
proud to be white = racist

Seriously, read http://www.audacityofhypocrisy.com/fashion-shows/

[BAM!]

Billary's Hillbillies!

[George]

Wake up America! It is not Ky that is going to elect our next president...maybe God is letting us have what we deserve for not always taking a stand, and not serving him and leading all to him like he left us here to do. Think a bout it!