Good morning from Beckley, West Virginia, where Barack Obama stopped by last night for a visit to a state where he trails Hillary Clinton by more than 20 points. You can read my new story here. Demographically, this state just doesn’t line up for him. And then there’s Obama’s recent problems, which you might think would have followed him here. But:

You can’t say the controversy over Rev. Jeremiah Wright is a cause for concern at Sen. Barack Obama’s town-hall meeting here at the Raleigh County Convention Center. For one thing, the people who have shown up, about 3,000 of them, are Obama fans, and they’re not inclined to worry about their man’s former pastor. For another, they’re West Virginians, and the phrase “U.S. of KKK A” might not strike them as too far-fetched, given that the senior politician from their state, Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd, was once an actual Klansman. In any event, in his extended opening remarks, Obama says nothing about Rev. Wright, and when he opens the gathering up to questions, inviting audience members to ask anything they want, nobody else mentions the reverend, either.
Of course, there might be other reasons for this Wright-free gathering. Maybe the people here are more interested in what are usually called the “real issues” of this campaign. Or maybe a number of them, especially the younger voters who find Obama particularly appealing, are just not keeping up with the news.
“We need change, that’s what I believe in,” a young woman named Melissa tells me.
“What about all the stuff with his pastor?” I ask.
“The what?”
“You know — the news about the controversial things his pastor said.”
“I haven’t heard much about it,” Melissa says. “That’s not a good question for me.”
“I don’t know much about it,” says a young man named Nick. “I’ve just been hearing about it from people who aren’t supporters, so I don’t have any idea.”
Others seem to have stronger opinions. “I don’t think everybody who goes to one church has the exact same views as everyone else who goes to that church,” a young man named Paul tells me. “He doesn’t have any control over what his former pastor said.”
By the way, I ask, what was your reaction when you saw those video clips of Rev. Wright’s sermons?
“I didn’t see what he said,” Paul answers. “What did he say?”