Opinion: A Mississippi tidbit (a follow-up to our Kentucky one)

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We never would have imagined that our brief item on Kentucky’s Magoffin County -- the least demographically diverse community in the nation and site of Hillary Clinton’s best showing, percentage-wise, in the state’s Tuesday primary -- was going to strike such a nerve.

But so it did, as judged by the more than 200 comments it prompted -- some hard-edged and nasty, but most well worth reading and contemplating (which we did).

The majority held forth on whether and to what extent racism and sexism have driven voting patterns in the historic Democratic presidential contest. Others reflected on urban attitudes vs. rural ones, as well as ‘elitism’ vs. ‘working class’ values. And quite a few questioned or (to a lesser degree) defended the journalistic value of what to us was simply a fact worth chewing over.

One prominent thread in the comments -- an ongoing debate over whether a difference can be drawn between the huge vote margins Clinton rolled up in the largely white, rural areas of Kentucky (and, before that, West Virginia) and the overwhelming backing Barack Obama receives from black voters in virtually every primary and caucus -- caused us to wonder about the flip side of Magoffin County.

Times reporter James Hohmann tracked down the answer we sought: Jefferson County, Mississippi, nestled in the state’s southwest corner, is home to the nation’s largest concentration of African Americans. In the 2000 Census, 86.49% of its 9,740 residents were black.

And in the state’s March 11 primary, Obama won 88% of the county’s vote -- his best showing in a state where he defeated Clinton, 61%-37%.

-- Don Frederick