Just how unpopular is President Obama in some parts of the country? Enough that a man in a Texas prison received four out of 10 votes in West Virginia’s Democratic presidential primary.
Inmate Keith Judd, 53, is serving 17 years for extortion at the Beaumont Federal Correctional Institution. He was sentenced in 1999 for making threats against the University of New Mexico and is due to be released on June 24 next year.
With 93 per cent of precincts reporting, Obama was receiving just under 60 per cent of the vote to Judd’s 40 per cent.
For some West Virginia Democrats, simply running against Obama is enough to get Judd – or Inmate Number 11593-051 – votes.
‘I voted against Obama,’ said Ronnie Brown, a 43-year-old electrician from Cross Lanes who called himself a conservative Democrat.
‘I don’t like him. He didn’t carry the state before and I’m not going to let him carry it again.’
When asked which presidential candidate he voted for, Brown said: ‘That guy out of Texas.’