I serendipitously found that Dukakis, in 1988, believe it or not:

[PCIntern]

Lost California, but won West Virginia.

WTF?

What's with this crazy electorate?

[S_E_Fudd]

1. West Virginia was reliably Democatic until 2000....

I think many blame the gun issue for switching it...but I'm not sure...

[phleshdef]

2. West Virginia has a lot fiscal liberals with bible belt social values.

Bush appealed to that latter part. Other than that, there is a lot of racial stigma there. I know, I grew up in Logan, WVa. If Obama were white, he would probably be winning WVa right now.

[Jackinbox]

8. The environment.

I think it was because of the environment and Bush's constant promise of investing in clean-coal technology. They got scared that Gore was going to close down their coal mines.

[SoxFan]

3. 1988 was a weird year

The last gasp of Orange County conservatism in California, and Maryland going Republican because of some weird gun ballot question.

[featherman]

4. Please remember that the GOP nominated Californians in 1960, 1968, 1972, 1980, and 1984

In 1988, I expect there was a residual loyalty to Reagan's VP

[liberalpragmatist]

5. States change, and so do parties.

Southern California used to vote HEAVILY Republican. Also, the Hispanic and Asian populations were significantly smaller. Even today, actually, Southern California whites vote more Republican than Democratic.

Moreover, throughout the '90s, suburbanites switched from voting Republican (for Nixon, Reagan, Bush I and even for Ford), to voting for Democrats or at least splitting their votes. Some major reasons: (1) decline in racial polarization, which used to pit (black) urbanites against (white) suburbanites, (2) GOP descent into religious fundamentalism which boosted the GOP in rural areas to the detriment of their standing in suburbs, and (3) Clinton fiscal policies in the '90s, which made lots of moderates more comfortable with voting D.

The result? California and Illinois are now reliably Democratic. New York, which actually voted for Reagan, Nixon and nearly voted for Ford, is now almost as Democratic as Massachusetts. New Jersey, which was more Republican than the national average in '92, is now reflexively Republican.

The same process is what's turning Virginia from a solid GOP state to a tossup or even lean-Dem state, and turning North Carolina into a tossup. It's also what turned Florida into a tossup state.

By contrast, Dems have fared worse in rural areas as their base solidifies as northern and suburbanite. The rise of the religious right and the death of old New-Deal-era voters have made several states in the South and near-South much less Democratic these days. That's why Missouri is only a tossup or even slight lean McCain, despite the fact that Dukakis barely lost it. That's why West Virginia is now a reliable red state, and why Tennessee, historically the most moderate Southern state, is now nearly as Republican at the presidential level as Alabama.

It's silly to think a nationwide swing will be uniform across states. In different years, there are different conditions in different states. '88 is a good illustration of that. States like Missouri and even Montana and South Dakota were closer (and more D) than states like New Jersey and Illinois.

[Recursion]

6. Dukakis never got suburbanites the way Clinton did

That's one of the big differences in the 1988 map and the 1992 map.

[abumbyanyothername]

7. Pete Wilson permanently blew CA for the Republicans

with that racist BS about illegals.