did their Great-Great-Grandfathers registered them as democrats in about 1868 and no one has bothered to switch? LOL. The Union dynamic is interesting. These are the people the democrats are orphaning off and the republicans are slowly gobbling them up.
I don't think they are Civil War-era Democrats, I think it's mostly a 20th century phenomenon. It's more like the Iron Range than like Mississippi (but not much like either.)
The only difference being that voters in the iron range still came out for Obama and supported him about as much as any other democratic presidential candidate. Obama still dominated this region in 2008 and there was no swing against him as there was in WV.
WV Coal and MN Iron democrats may be similar, but only one group wasn't terrified by the color of his skin and his name.
but another difference is that the Iron Range didn't swing against Kerry in 2004.
