West Virginia
By Eric Ostermeier on March 12, 2013
It has been a combined 141 years since the GOP won a U.S. Senate race in West Virginia (1956), Hawaii (1970), and New Jersey (1972).
By Eric Ostermeier on February 21, 2013
The five U.S. Senators who have announced their retirement during the 113th Congress are 10 years older on average than any 'retiring class' from the chamber over the last five decades.
By Eric Ostermeier on January 30, 2013
West Virginia and Oregon have the oldest multi-member delegations to the House with Kansas and Arkansas the youngest.
By Eric Ostermeier on January 14, 2013
The party of retiring five-term U.S. Senators has held the seat 83 percent of the time in the next election since popular vote Senate contests began a century ago.
By Eric Ostermeier on December 4, 2012
The Romney-Obama contest ranked among the Top 5 most competitive races ever in three states (AK, FL, NC) and the Top 5 least competitive in six (HI, MD, OK, UT, WV, WY).
By Eric Ostermeier on November 13, 2012
Five candidates set all-time statewide records for non-major party candidates in U.S. Senate races this cycle.
By Eric Ostermeier on May 7, 2012
Tuesday's primaries are three of the nine contests in the 2008 and 2012 cycles held when the presumptive GOP nominee and Ron Paul were the only active candidates left in the race.
By Eric Ostermeier on July 26, 2011
All about Michele's long forgotten namesake in the U.S. House.
By Eric Ostermeier on February 24, 2010
Despite 30 percent of its caucus elected since 2006, Democrats have served almost 1 more year per member on average than Republicans
By Eric Ostermeier on January 19, 2010
Only West Virginia and Hawaii have gone more years without electing a Republican to a U.S. Senate seat
By Eric Ostermeier on December 20, 2009
Only West Virginia saw its state and federal prison population increase at a higher rate from 2000-2008
By Eric Ostermeier on May 14, 2008
While there has been no doubt for more than a month that Barack Obama would win the pledged delegate count in the race for the Democratic nomination, a higher than projected turnout in West Virginia's primary padded Hillary Clinton's victory and thus made a larger dent in her popular vote...
By Eric Ostermeier on May 13, 2008
6:30 p.m. CNN characterizes Hillary Clinton will win West Virginia by "a wide margin." MSNBC states exit polls show Clinton will win by a 2:1 margin. Clinton now has won 17 states, plus Florida, Michigan, and American Samoa. 6:36 p.m. An MSNBC reporter following the Clinton campaign states there are...
By Eric Ostermeier on May 13, 2008
Smart Politics will blog live Tuesday night as the primary results from West Virginia come in. Some questions Smart Politics will track tonight in measuring the impact of Clinton's expected big victory: What is the voter turnout? Will a large Clinton gain in the popular vote shift the media coverage...
By Eric Ostermeier on May 12, 2008
A new poll released today by Suffolk University still finds Hillary Clinton flirting with a 40-point blowout victory in the West Virginia primary. The survey of 600 likely voters gives Clinton a 60 percent to 24 percent advantage over Barack Obama. Clinton, who must rack up very large popular vote...
By Eric Ostermeier on May 8, 2008
Those who have been reading Smart Politics during the past two months should not have been surprised that Hillary Clinton both won the Indiana primary on Tuesday night and also decided to continue her campaign the next day, despite strong pressure by the media, pundits, and some Democratic politicians for...
By Eric Ostermeier on February 5, 2008
1:40 p.m. Mike Huckabee has won the West Virginia caucus, collecting 18 delegates, after narrowly defeating Mitt Romney: Huckabee = 567 (52%) Romney = 521 (47%) McCain = 12 (1%) This is a big blow to the Romney campaign who was counting on several caucus victories today. Romney entered the...
