West Virginia Primary Macro Analysis:

Moderate Voters

West Virginia might be considered moderate as evidenced by the electorate choosing George W. Bush over Al Gore by 6.33% in 2000 and Bush over John Kerry by 12.82% in 2004, having two moderate Democratic US Senators, and with a quarter of the voters citing "Moral Values" as the most important issue according to 2004 election exit polls.

Independents Given a Voice

The Mountain State has 665,234 (56.21%) registered Democrats and 156,199 (13.20%) unaffiliated voters. For the first time in history, The West Virginia Democratic Party is allowing unaffiliated voters to vote in their party's primary. Whites makeup 95.99% of the population and African Americans consist of 3.56% of the total according to the 2005 census.

Primary Day: May 13

The primaries will be held on May 13, 2008. Polls will open at 6:30 am and close at 7:30 pm E.T. Between April 23 and May 10, the state offers in-person early voting.

Democratic Delegates

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will compete for 28 pledged delegates in West Virginia. The state also has 10 Superdelegates, with half not currently endorsing either candidate

Clinton leads the Superdelegate count with 3 compared to Barack Obama's 2.

The Democratic Governor, Joe Manchin, and the Senior Senator, Robert Byrd, have no plans to endorse either candidate until after the primary.

Sparse Data, Clinton Ahead, Rockefeller-Rahall Factor

West Virginia polling is minimal. However, the most recent, conducted on March 3, shows Clinton ahead by 28 points increasing her margin by 7 from a February survey.

Obama has two powerful assets, Senator Jay Rockefeller and US Representative Nick Rahall, that could be used to sway voters to the Illinois Senator's side.

Related Links:

Register Herald: Democrats to let independents vote in primary
Herald Mail, April 26, 2008:Manchin says he won't endorse Clinton or Obama before primary

Read More For Full Analysis

We invite anyone with news or event info to post them in the comment section.

 

North Carolina Primary Macro Analysis:

Moderate Voters

North Carolina voters might be considered moderate as evidenced by having two Republican US Senators, citing "Moral Values" as the most important issue according to 2004 election exit polls, and the electorate choosing George W. Bush over Al Gore by 12.8% in 2000 and Bush over John Kerry by 12.44% in 2004.

 

2.6 Million Democrats

There are 5,791,221 total registered voters as of April 26, 2008. 2,616,995 out of the total are registered Democrats and 1,240,297 are registered Independents who can vote on either the Republican or Democratic primary ballot.

Women make up 54.6% of the total registered voters (Democrats, Republicans and Independents) and African-Americans represent 20.6%.

Primary Day: May 6

The primaries will be held on May 6, 2008. Polls will open at 6:30 am and close at 7:30 pm E.T. The state also offers "One-Stop Absentee Voting" between April 17 and Saturday, May 3. People who opt for early voting will be able to register to vote at the same time and place that they cast their ballot.

Democratic Delegates

North Carolina has 115 pledged delegates up for grabs from the Democratic primary results plus an additional 19 unpledged matic delegates.

Barack Obama leads the Superdelegate count with 6 compared to Hillary Clinton's 2.

Hillary Clinton has North Carolina's greatest Democratic asset, the two-term governor and Superdelegate, Mike Easley. Barack Obama's best known surrogate is U.S. House Representative and superdelegate, Mel Watt.

Obama Ahead, Clinton Gaining

Obama is five points ahead of Clinton (49% to 44%) according to polls released on April 28. However, voters seem to be moving towards the former first lady as Clinton has cut Obama's 10 point advantage back on April 7 down to the current 5 point lead.