Rural march toward Republicans resumes, and Appalachian coalfields are a prime example

"In a bloodbath of a night for Democrats, the most gruesome returns came in from rural America," Ben Smith and Jonathan Martin write for Politico. "They lost the overwhelming number of gubernatorial and Senate races in the South, Midwest and interior West. Even more striking, House Democrats lost seats in every one of the 11 states of the old Confederacy."

The casualties included Reps. John Spratt of South Carolina, the Budget Committee chairman; James Oberstar of Minnesota, the Transportation committee chairman; Ike Skelton of Missouri, the Armed Services Committee chairman; and "long-serving political survivors such as Allen Boyd (Fla.), Gene Taylor (Miss.), Earl Pomeroy (N.D.) and Chet Edwards (Tex.). So did more junior members such as Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (S.D.), Harry Teague (N.M.), and Ohioans Charlie Wilson and Zack Space. The decades-long march toward the GOP among rural and small-town voters – interrupted and even reversed in 2006 and 2008 – has resumed." (Read more) Skelton's defeat "epitomizes the power" of the Republican wave, National Journal reports.

The two-year conflict between the Obama administration and coal industry culminated Tuesday with several Appalachian Democrats losing their House seats. "Voters in the region's coal and manufacturing districts rejected half a dozen Democratic incumbents, including nine-term Virginia Rep. Rick Boucher," Patrick Reis of Environment & Energy Daily reports. "Other losers were Democratic Reps. Zack Space of Ohio -- who fell by 14 percentage points to state Sen. Bob Gibbs (R) -- Charlie Wilson and John Boccieri of Ohio, Tom Perriello of Virginia and Lincoln Davis of Tennessee."

Democrats appear to have lost West Virginia's 1st District, which the party had held for more than four decades. With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Republican David McKinley held a 1,500-plus vote lead over Democrat Mike Oliverio, who defeated 14-term Rep. Alan Mollohan in the primary. "The turnover follows two tense years between national Democrats and the central Appalachian corridor, a string of districts running through West Virginia and along the edges of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee," Reis writes.

"While party leaders pushed a cap-and-trade bill -- a proposal panned by most U.S. coal companies -- U.S. EPA in April singled out the six states for special restrictions on mountaintop removal coal mining," Reis writes. "Regional Democrats worked to distance themselves from the Obama agenda by protesting the mining regulations, looking to carve out funding for the coal industry in the cap-and-trade bill, and in many cases breaking party lines to vote against the measure." West Virginia Democratic Rep. Nick Rahall, who voted against cap-and-trade held off Republican challenger Elliot "Spike" Maynard, and Kentucky Democratic Rep. Ben Chandler, who voted for cap-and-trade, holds a 600-vote lead over Republican Andy Barr with all precincts reporting. (Read more, subscription required)

Chandler is a member of the Blue Dogs, a group of moderate-to-conservative Democrats, many with strong rural constituencies. "The Blue Dog pack was cut by more than half Tuesday night, as at least 28 of the 54 members of the coalition of moderate House Democrats were defeated," Politico's Glenn Thrush reports. UPDATE, Nov. 8: "We got swamped by the vote in the rural areas," Rep. Chris Van Hollen, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told radio host Bill Press on Friday. "Someone said we lost half our geographic territory." The comment was recorded and posted by C-SPAN, "which saves the in-studio video footage of Press's show in its online archive," reports Chris Good of TheAtlantic.com.