Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin (D-WV) has announced that he will not endorse Barack Obama for re-election, stating, “[the president] has apparently made it his mission to drive the backbone of West Virginia’s economy, coal and the energy industry, out of business.”
This was not unexpected; the Obama campaign had already admitted that the past few years under Obama have been rotten for West Virginia. Tomblin is running for re-election and is vulnerable to a Republican challenger.
This is certainly a welcome sign for Mitt Romney’s campaign. While West Virginia voted for Bush twice, and went for McCain in 2012, it borders battleground states like Ohio and Pennsylvania. “Neither President Obama nor Governor Romney has earned my vote at this point,” said Tomblin, accusing Obama of undertaking policies that would “destroy the economic fabric of our state.”