CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- John McCain carried West Virginia in the presidential election Tuesday, marking the third straight election where voters in the once reliably Democrat state have picked a Republican for the nation's highest office.

Democrat Barack Obama won the election, but McCain took the Mountain State by double digits. With 70 percent of precincts reporting late Tuesday, McCain led about 55 percent to 45 percent.

Obama had trailed in pre-election polls in West Virginia, and Sen. Hillary Clinton trounced him by a 2-1 margin in the state's Democratic primary in May.

At Embassy Suites in Charleston on Tuesday night, Republicans watched local and national elections as they gathered to support state candidates. 

Shortly after 9 p.m., the Democratic Illinois senator had twice as many electoral votes as McCain. Half an hour earlier, Fox News had projected that Obama had won the key battleground state of Pennsylvania.  

"I can't control what goes on in the rest of the country," said Ben Beakes, director of McCain's West Virginia campaign. "We did our job, and the people of West Virginia made the right choice."

Beakes called Obama's views on social issues such as abortion and gun rights "radical."

"When you get down to the presidential election, West Virginia values are solid," he said.

He also said Obama and running mate Joe Biden are "enemies of coal." The McCain campaign recently had tried to sway coal state voters by quoting from a 10-month-old interview to allege that Obama plans to "bankrupt the coal industry" with his plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

A block away, Democrats gathered at the Marriott with Gov. Joe Manchin and other state political leaders.

Despite polls, Obama campaign officials had called West Virginia "a battleground" throughout the campaign.

Tom Vogel, director of Obama's West Virginia campaign, said Republicans misconstrued Obama's views on many issues.

"I believe that when we have President Obama, [West Virginia voters] will see that those statements are false," Vogel said. "They'll realize that Democrats aren't going to take away their guns. They'll realize they support coal."

Partygoers appeared jubilant at the Marriott, where people jammed into a ballroom to watch three big-screen TVs. 

Some booed when CNN projected McCain's win in West Virginia.

Only moments later, the crowd erupted in screams and waved campaign signs as the network declared that Obama had won in Ohio.

Woody Woods, a D.J. from Charleston, grinned widely and exclaimed, "Yes we can!"

"I feel like it's New Year's Eve, Christmas and my birthday, mixed all together," Woods said.

This was the first year Woods, 28, ever voted.

"People might say I'm voting because I'm a black male," he said. "I'm voting because I believe he's the better candidate out of the two ... I voted because we needed a change."

He said he liked Obama's stance on issues such as health care. He also said he felt emotional knowing he would soon be able to tell his 9-year-old daughter that a black person could be president.

With McCain's West Virginia victory, the debate is over about whether President George W. Bush's wins in the state were aberrations, said Robert Rupp, a political history professor at West Virginia Wesleyan College.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- John McCain carried West Virginia in the presidential election Tuesday, marking the third straight election where voters in the once reliably Democrat state have picked a Republican for the nation's highest office.

Democrat Barack Obama won the election, but McCain took the Mountain State by double digits. With 70 percent of precincts reporting late Tuesday, McCain led about 55 percent to 45 percent.

Obama had trailed in pre-election polls in West Virginia, and Sen. Hillary Clinton trounced him by a 2-1 margin in the state's Democratic primary in May.

At Embassy Suites in Charleston on Tuesday night, Republicans watched local and national elections as they gathered to support state candidates. 

Shortly after 9 p.m., the Democratic Illinois senator had twice as many electoral votes as McCain. Half an hour earlier, Fox News had projected that Obama had won the key battleground state of Pennsylvania.  

"I can't control what goes on in the rest of the country," said Ben Beakes, director of McCain's West Virginia campaign. "We did our job, and the people of West Virginia made the right choice."

Beakes called Obama's views on social issues such as abortion and gun rights "radical."

"When you get down to the presidential election, West Virginia values are solid," he said.

He also said Obama and running mate Joe Biden are "enemies of coal." The McCain campaign recently had tried to sway coal state voters by quoting from a 10-month-old interview to allege that Obama plans to "bankrupt the coal industry" with his plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

A block away, Democrats gathered at the Marriott with Gov. Joe Manchin and other state political leaders.

Despite polls, Obama campaign officials had called West Virginia "a battleground" throughout the campaign.

Tom Vogel, director of Obama's West Virginia campaign, said Republicans misconstrued Obama's views on many issues.

"I believe that when we have President Obama, [West Virginia voters] will see that those statements are false," Vogel said. "They'll realize that Democrats aren't going to take away their guns. They'll realize they support coal."

Partygoers appeared jubilant at the Marriott, where people jammed into a ballroom to watch three big-screen TVs. 

Some booed when CNN projected McCain's win in West Virginia.

Only moments later, the crowd erupted in screams and waved campaign signs as the network declared that Obama had won in Ohio.

Woody Woods, a D.J. from Charleston, grinned widely and exclaimed, "Yes we can!"

"I feel like it's New Year's Eve, Christmas and my birthday, mixed all together," Woods said.

This was the first year Woods, 28, ever voted.

"People might say I'm voting because I'm a black male," he said. "I'm voting because I believe he's the better candidate out of the two ... I voted because we needed a change."

He said he liked Obama's stance on issues such as health care. He also said he felt emotional knowing he would soon be able to tell his 9-year-old daughter that a black person could be president.

With McCain's West Virginia victory, the debate is over about whether President George W. Bush's wins in the state were aberrations, said Robert Rupp, a political history professor at West Virginia Wesleyan College.

"Until 2000, West Virginia was one of the most loyal Democratic states in presidential election history," Rupp said. "They stood by Carter in '80. They stood by Dukakis in '88 ... In a sense, what's happened is that we've lost the legend of being a loyal Democratic state in presidential elections."

West Virginia could now be seen as a "split-level state," with Democrats dominating at the state and local levels but Republicans winning presidential elections, Rupp said.

That's due in large part to the socially conservative views of many West Virginians, said Neil Berch, a political science professor at West Virginia University.

"[State Democratic] candidates are not running on the same platform as say Sen. Obama, or at least many of them are not," Berch said.

West Virginia's turning red also is part of a larger national realignment spurred by demographic shifts, he said.

Rupp said Republicans had hoped Bush's two victories here would stimulate the creation of a GOP infrastructure in state politics. Democrats wanted their voters to return to straight-ticket voting.

Tuesday's results showed that neither happened.

Neither presidential candidate spent much time in the state; McCain made a couple of brief appearances.

Obama's campaign sent Biden to Charleston in October. Former President Bill Clinton stumped for Obama at a rally in Beckley on Saturday.

It appeared the Obama campaign laid the infrastructure and put staffing in place in West Virginia in case the state turned into a battleground - but it never became one, Rupp said. 

"Although the Obama campaign did spend resources," he said, "the key fact is that the candidate himself did not come."

He said that likely influenced many voters.

"As an Appalachian state, we like to get attention, we like to see our candidates up close," he said.

Without getting to know Obama, many voters probably went for the "default" of McCain, he said.

Media reports focused heavily on race in West Virginia, where 95 percent of the population is white. Rupp said a study of the returns would be the only way to know how much a role race played in voters' decision.

However, he said many West Virginians' rejection of Obama was not so much "blatant racism" as it was a reflection of Appalachian culture - one that is suspicious of outsiders and wary of change.

Southern Ohio and southwestern Pennsylvania also are part of that landscape, he said. 

"It isn't the state of West Virginia," he said. "It's the political culture of Appalachia that had some concerns or suspicions of the Obama campaign."

Rupp said he believes Hillary Clinton would have beaten McCain in West Virginia in a landslide.

"This state loved Bill Clinton, and Hillary Clinton proved herself to be an able campaigner," Rupp said.

Berch, though, said the New York senator's platform was too similar to Obama's to have won the state. 

"I think, most likely, she would not have won West Virginia," he said. "She probably would have done a little better" than Obama.

Reach Alison Knezevich at alis...@wvgazette.com or 348-1240.