Can anyone explain why, when this went through the Senate, it wasn't filibustered? I was under the impression that almost all controversial legislation had to pass the filibuster threshold, and since Democrats were united in opposition against it, I would have expected them to filibuster this. Was there some loophole preventing them from doing so, or did they not consider it important enough to filibuster?
Er, Hillary had a $30 billion plan directly aimed at helping coal communities [0]. I happen to not support much of that plan but the claim "He was the only candidate that actually said a single idea that was directly aimed at helping them" is demonstrably false.
I agree that the topic you mention is interesting, but the article as posted is practically guaranteed to devolve into political discussion rather than a discussion about the point you bring up.
A better article, IMO, would have noted that the NYT does this consistently and has done so in a way that has harmed all candidates, not to mention non presidential conversation. See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9870347 for another example of this practice.