By Britt Nelson

Editor’s Note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.

West Virginia voters spoke loudly Tuesday night in the Democratic presidential primary giving Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders a large win over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

While West Virginians were peacefully voting on Tuesday and going about their everyday lives — five car bombs in Baghdad, Iraq, exploded in crowded outdoor markets killing more than 130 innocent men, women and children – as ISIS Islamic terrorists claim responsibility. The contrast is beyond stunning, it’s numbing. If these horrific acts had occurred in a crowded mall in America or in France or Germany the outrage would be heard around the world. But in Iraq these tragic events seem to go hardly noticed by major U.S. news organizations, and the reason being that reporting such events, to any great extent, would make President Obama’s administration look weak as they continue to say progress is being made against ISIS.

Clinton, who carried West Virginia in 2008 during her first presidential run against former Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, lost to Sanders 51 percent to 36 percent. Clinton’s loss can be directly attributed to her recent comments about coal miners losing their jobs and coal mines being shut down.

Former President Bill Clinton also won West Virginia in 1992, during his first presidential run, but now West Virginia is no longer Clinton country.

In the delegate count, Clinton remains in the lead with 1,716 pledged delegates to Sanders’ 1,430 delegates. In her column, Clinton also has 523 super delegates to Sanders’ 39, according to Real Clear Politics. Some 2,382 Democratic delegates are needed to win.

Sanders continues to say he will stay in the race all the way to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July and he hopes to attract Clinton’s super delegates to vote for him instead of her. Super delegates are free to vote for the candidate of their choice.

According to West Virginia exit polling reported on CNN, Sanders did well with Independent voters, young people and seniors.

On May 17, voters will speak again during the Kentucky Democratic caucuses and in the Oregon Presidential Primary. Oregon polls show the race between Clinton and Sanders is too close to call, however, one poll released May 10 by DMH Research shows Clinton ahead 48 to 33 percent.

Now running unopposed, Republican New York billionaire Donald Trump also scored big with voters in West Virginia by taking 77 percent of the vote.

Also Tuesday night, in Nebraska, Trump received 61 percent of Republican voter approval.

Trump leads in the delegate count with 1135 delegates, only 102 shy of the 1,237 needed to win the Republican nomination for president before their national convention in Cleveland in July.

More establishment Republicans are lining up behind Trump as the Republican Party goes through the process of unifying behind their controversial nominee. A Republican Party that is not unified cannot win against the Democrats in the upcoming national election Nov. 8. The same goes for Democrats. Clinton may be forced to accept Sanders as her vice presidential running mate in order to unify the Democratic Party.

In his campaign speeches, Trump continues to hammer on immigration issues especially those involving Muslims. Certainly, Trump will continue to speak on the eroding situation in Iraq. He will use those Baghdad bombings to show that the two-decade-old war in Iraq is nowhere near over.

The threat of ISIS is not going away anytime soon. Islamic terrorists will sooner or later strike again within the borders of the USA as they did in San Bernardino, California, and in the Boston Marathon bombings. As Americans debate over which candidate will best handle the spread of terrorism more lives will be lost to extremists and their twisted ideology.

Clinton does not often speak voluntarily about ISIS, or Islamic terrorists, or the problems in Iraq or undocumented illegal Muslims entering the USA. To do so makes President Obama, Clinton’s former boss, look bad as she attempts to continue his legacy through winning the presidency.

Trump does not hesitate to yell from the treetops about the spread of ISIS and worldwide threats from Islamic terrorists. There is an ISIS crisis.

About the Author

Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years. Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.