With the bifurcated politics of Illinois - Downstate versus Chicagoland - it’s sometimes easy to forget the now-presumptive Democratic nominee is from the state next door.

While Barack Obama’s ties to the Windy City have been woven into the fabric of the campaign - emerging as both positives and negatives for him - the junior senator from Illinois and son of Chicago’s South Side has made relatively little mention of his connections, such as they are, to the rest of the state.

That changed recently, with a campaign commercial featuring a Southern Illinois coal miner declaring his support for Obama.

“Barack originates from Chicago, but he came to Southern Illinois and seen the devastation and the loss of the jobs in this coal industry,” says coal miner Randy Henry. “Washington, D.C. is not listening to us. Barack understands us.”

The commercial tells us Henry has been a coal miner for more than 30 years. According to this Department of Labor transcript, Henry works at a mine in Farmersville - just over an hour north of St. Louis - and is active in the local United Mine Workers union.

While coal has surfaced as an issue this month because of today’s Democratic primary in West Virginia - where coal is “king” - Obama’s ad is actually targeting Kentucky, which votes next Tuesday. (Obama has conceded West Virgina to rival Hillary Clinton, though her wins now may be only academic.)

Coal has proved a touchy subject for Obama. While alternative energy is a major part of Obama’s platform, trashing coal could alienate the party’s blue-collar base in key states such as a Ohio. As a compromise, Obama has proffered his support of “liquefying” coal, which produces cleaner fuel.

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