Woodchuck is also an upstate New York slang term for an unsophisticated rural dwelling person. See redneck, hick, and hillbilly .
A woodchuck is sort of the bottom of the barrel. My working assumption is that the term comes from the similarity between the american stereotype of the rural not-so-smart dweller, and an actual woodchuck. You know, a fat guy with buck teeth and a mullet. It's rather depressing really. These people are poor, marginalized, very little opportunity, and for the most part society looks the other way. We're talking about Jerry Springer fodder here.
I went to a very rural elementary school out in the sticks. Some of my friends and classmates were beaten every day after school, some didn't have any food at home, some of them were the product of inbreeding. None of these things were their fault, I mean they were kids for fuck's sake! Still, at that age they had been so steeped in the environment by their parents, all they knew how to do was hate, how to torture and abuse anybody who wasn't like them, and to lash out at whatever was in their reach.
It's a vicious cycle, and I for one feel that it should be broken, but then who am I to criticize the lifestyle of anybody else? I don't want to be one of those damn ivory tower liberals, but what can I say?