One of the most significant developments in the close and controversial 2000 Presidential race between Republican George Bush and Democrat Al Gore happened in southern West Virginia.
Coal and timber operator Buck Harless teamed with Bill Raney of the West Virginia Coal Association and unemployed United Mine Workers local leader Dick Kimbler to rally support for Bush in the Democrat-controlled region. They argued that Gore’s environmental policies would destroy the coal economy.
The strategy worked. Gore carried the 12 heavily Democratic counties below Route 60, but only by 10,000 votes (By comparison, Bill Clinton beat Bob Dole by 42,000 votes in those same 12 counties in 1996). Bush did well enough to carry West Virginia, capturing its five electoral votes, his margin of victory in the Electoral College (271-266).
Southern West Virginia, along with the rest of the state, went Republican in the 2004 and 2008 Presidential elections, and the Mountain State will be red again this November. Still, an updated version of the 2000 coal coalition is forming to not only ensure a Romney victory here, but also see if they can help Romney in other coal states.
This time the West Virginia Coal Association is again trying to recruit UMWA members to its cause, as well as leaders of businesses that rely on the coal industry. Jim Winkler, who operates a large machine shop in Logan County, is one of the more outspoken members of what’s called “COALition for Romney.”
“The gloves are off,” Winkler said on Metronews Talkline Monday. “We’re going to fight for our rights and our jobs.
The Romney campaign is taking notice. Two Romney representatives were at the COALition press conference Monday afternoon at the Veterans Memorial Building in Madison.
It may have been a coincidence, but Romney spent part of the following day campaigning in eastern Ohio and talking up coal. According to a story in the Columbus Dispatch, “Campaigning literally on top of a coal mine with dozens of soot-covered miners behind him, Mitt Romney said he’d do ‘everything in his power to make sure you keep good jobs and good wages.”
Romney is trying to draw a sharp contrast with President Obama, who has a dismal record on coal, from his zealous EPA to the White House emphasis on alternative fuels. Even the United Mine Workers Union, which historically backs Democratic candidates and supported Obama in 2008, is sitting out this Presidential race rather than back the President.
But just because the union leadership is on the sidelines does not necessarily mean the miners, their families and friends, and the people whose livelihoods depend on the coal industry are going to stay home. Many of them are frustrated and worried, and that is just the emotion the COALition for Romney is hoping to tap into.
Ohio, with its 18 electoral votes, is a key battleground state. Virginia, another coal-producing state with 13 electoral votes, is also a toss-up. Pennsylvania is leaning Democrat, but with 20 electoral votes at stake the coal issue could come into play. Coal-rich Kentucky, with eight electoral votes, is solidly Romney.
Lately, coal critics have been in a celebratory mood, given the industry’s challenges. Four more years of an Obama Administration will further wreck an industry that is vital to this region and the country.
However, if coal advocates have any fight left in them, they might be able to rekindle the spirit of the 2000 Presidential race and make a difference in coal-producing swing states.