E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSD.C. Republicans are making the argument that one of the nation’s most popular Democratic governors is just too good for Washington.
In a new ad opposing West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, the National Republican Senatorial Committee highlights the Democrat’s approval ratings in the state but makes the case that the widely admired chief executive will turn into an establishment puppet if he wins the election against Republican businessman John Raese.
In the 30-second spot, flannel-clad locals assert that “Joe’s not bad as governor, but when he’s with Obama … he turns into ‘Washington Joe.’’
“We better keep Joe Manchin right here in West Virginia,” one man in the ad asserts.
No politician aspires to be unpopular, but it’s worth noting that popular governors like Manchin have faced bumps in the past in their efforts to get to Capitol Hill.
Nebraska Gov. Ben Nelson, whose poll numbers were in the 60s, lost his first campaign for the Senate to Chuck Hagel in 1996, and popular Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, a Republican, lost to John Kerry. Iconic North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt lost one of the nastiest Senate races in history when he challenged Republican Jesse Helms in 1984.
Raese himself has given a well-known governor a run for his money before. In 1984, then-two-term Gov. Jay Rockefeller beat Raese by just four points after spending $12 million on the race.
Watch the ad here:
Leave a Comment:
I sure hope Joe Manchin wins this seat. I really like this man.
The interview that Keith Olbermann had with the homeowner last night really was heartbreaking. The firefighters actually did nothing. I could hardly believe it. But then the same thing would be going on with health care if the Republicans had their way. Stimulus for more jobs gets a thumbs down too. “Too bad” is the GOP’s motto. And their supporters don’t care. They just don’t care about anyone.
Can you imagine losing your home, while the firefighters did nothing? Is this still America? Aren’t we better than this? Is it always about money in this country? Always? Where is our soul? Where is our concern for the American people. They LOST EVERYTHING! When they didn't have to.
And the money going to the GOP and by what means is a big story. It shows where our democracy is going - down the tubes. The Supreme Court has had some disgraceful decisions over the years. Truly disgraceful.
This Day in Baseball – October 4, 1955 -
After more than half a century of futility, the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers finally win a World Championship thanks to Johnny Podres' 2-0 shutout of the Yankees and an outstanding catch by Sandy Amoros.
October 5, 1951
In Game 2 of the World Series, right fielder Mickey Mantle's season comes to an immediate end when he severely injures his right knee when his cleats get caught on a drainage cap at Yankee Stadium. Joe DiMaggio's abrupt call for Willie Mays' fly ball in center field leads many to believe the last minute call was a contributing factor to the torn cartilage suffered by the 19-year-old rookie.
October 4, 1969
In the first ever League Championship Series playoff game, the Mets beat the Braves 9-5 in Atlanta.
Agree about the homeowner interview, those fire fighters showed no compassion when they refuse to help him.
Also, noticing your tendency for the baseball posts today. I hope you are going to survive the post season sans Red Socks. I still have a dog in the race, but the Rangers will flame out.
I can[t believe the Democrat mayor and the Democrat county councel allowed this to happen. Go figure.
Pat, here is the problem I have with the home owner. He didn't forget to pay, he just thought he could skate by without paying. If you listened to the interview, he said that the year before his son hadn't paid either, but the city fire dept did respond and said he could pay the next day. It seems like it might run in the family. Like the Mayor of the city said. You don't have a car wreck and then try to buy auto insurance, or want insurance to pay for your car.
I feel for the guy, but the city has to take a stand somewhere. This was a special service that the city gave if you were willing to pay the $75 a year. They are not responsible for providing fire protection to those in the outlying county. They get no tax money for fire protection for them.
It was a sad affair, but I'll bet if you check back you would see that the man had never paid the $75, year after year. He was just taking his chances.
And I also don't blame the firemen, they don't set the rules, the city does, and they work for the city.
Steve, can you provide any sources that the county is controlled by Democrats? Who set the policy many years ago? What party did they belong to?
Whether this policy was enacted by Democrats or Republicans Think Progress said it best; http://thinkprogress.org/2010/10/04/county-firefighters-subscription/
"
As ThinkProgress has noted, there are currently two competing visions of governance in the United States. One, the conservative vision, believes in the on-your-own society, and informs a policy agenda that primarily serves the well off and privileged sectors of the country. The other vision, the progressive one, believes in an American Dream that works for all people, regardless of their racial, religious, or economic background.
The conservative vision was on full display last week in Obion County, Tennessee. In this rural section of Tennessee, Gene Cranick’s home caught on fire. As the Cranicks fled their home, their neighbors alerted the county’s firefighters, who soon arrived at the scene. Yet when the firefighters arrived, they refused to put out the fire, saying that the family failed to pay the annual subscription fee to the fire department. Because the county’s fire services for rural residences is based on household subscription fees, the firefighters, fully equipped to help the Cranicks, stood by and watched as the home burned to the ground:"
Judging from the most recent polling, it would appear that West Virginia voters are inclined to agree with the NRSC.
Governor Manchin should keep his present position.
President Obama isn't helping Manchin, is he?
MB
I wouldn't go that far and say that WV voters want to keep Joe Manchin here. Most of the people I've talk to so far are going to vote for Manchin and there has been a few to say they are going to vote for Raese.
Why should Governor Manchin keep his present position...I mean since you think you know so much about WV and their voters!
I wrote the reason why Gov Manchin dropped in the polls by 5 points because Manchin agreed to have WVU and Marshall University playing against each other in football for the next three years and I guess the newspaper in Morgantown stated that Manchin dropped in the polls by 5 points. Plus the newspaper company is owned by no other than Raese.
Raese is from old money and he lives most of his time and days down in Palm Beach, FL. He spends maybe a quarter of his time in the state of West Virginia. Plus he has said many times that he's out to make money and not to hire people.
There are alot of people in my great state who don't trust Raese or Spike Maynard!!!!
TRR-
On the contrary, I know very little about the Manchin/Raese contest...apart from what I read or view in the mainstream, cable, and on-line media.
You're actually living in West Virginia...so I respect your views on this race.
Do you believe that Raese has:
No chance against Gov. Manchin; an outside chance; or, a real chance to win Robert Byrd's Senate seat?
Does President Obama help, or hurt Manchin overall?
You tell me...
Everyone else here has.
MB-
Raese has no chance against Gov. Manchin and I think that President Obama will not hurt Manchin at all.
Manchin has received some big endorsements like NRA, West Virginia Coal Association and US Chamber of Commerce.
Raese endorsements came from Palin.
"Raese endorsements came from Palin.
"Raese has no chance against Gov. Manchin.. I belive several polls have Raese leading Manchin.....
Frankusa-
Polls never speak the truth. We'll just have to wait and see who the people of West Virginia vote for and I'm pretty sure it will be for Manchin.
The only thing that might keep Pres. Obama from helping Manchin is that WV voted for McCain last election and the people of WV wouldn't take kindly to Pres. Obama coming to WV and helping Manchin. The state use to be stong Democrat, but is starting to change. It might be better for Manchin to not have him come here. I voted Democrat and alway will.
JoAnn,
The only reasoning I get out of people to vote Republican here and the only answer I get time after time is that they want to keep their guns.
I think to myself thats a pretty poor reason to keep voting Republican....because I'm been voting since the age of eighteen, which has been awhile now (I mean really awhile) and I still have my guns. Other that they can't come up with any other excuse. Go figure!!!
TRR, I don't know any Democrat that advocates taking guns away from anyone but felons. Maybe banning assault weapons or other military type weapons but not firearms in general. Does one really need an AK47 to defend their single wide or to hunt for possum to put on the table? The Republican scare tactics work well on the dolts that they are aimed at. Fortunately, for now at least, most of us aren't that stupid.
TRR:
Please tell me you are joking...
There are not people in the great state of WV who believe that the Democrats in general and President Obama in particular will take their guns!
Can they really be that naive?
This is a sad state of affairs.
Manchin seems like a reasonable and moderate Democrat who is trusted by a majority of WV voters. Washington needs more moderates from both sides of the aisle.
Shiela I think that most of the rest of the country would be very suprised at the number of People in rural communities vote Republican for exactly that reason. That lie on guns has been told and repeated for so long by so many that it pretty much has the status of an urban myth. Having had the discusion many times myself I know there's almost nothing that you can say to change their minds either. Manchin has a good chance even with all that. As far as the President coming up there I think that he did the governor a lot of good in the response to the Mining Disaster and at this point it would probably do more good to let the West Va.ians keep it among themselves. Wish I could slip over the line and vote for Manchin myself he's a good man and I think he has the regular folks interests more in his heart than Raese
Adler, Sheila and IR-
I wish I could say that I'm joking but I'm not.
Gov. Manchin has done alot for this state and he's a good man with a big heart.
Manchin knows want it's like to come from a middle class family. He played football in high school, so he could receive a scholarship to go to college. He's worked very hard to get where he is now.
So I would say that Raese has no idea what's it's like to come from a middle class family because Raese comes from old money.
Sad so Sad!!
Time to go back. Time to stop wasting money on mostly useless things just to buy votes. We cant afford this nonsense. Neither can our great grandchildren. It's shameful. Creating useless people on welfare just to vote demo only promotes crime.
Jack, some of the biggest welfare states and welfare people are the red states and those people always vote Republican, so don't lay the welfare thing on the dems.
8 of the 10 states that get the most in money from the Federal government for every dollar they pay in taxes are red states. You can thank us any time you wish.
Good to read some WV comments here. I know little about what Joe Manchin has done for WV as Governor but was impressed with him during the mining disaster. He seemed genuine and was there for the families from the beginning to the end. That says a lot about his character. He deserves a chance to be the senator. Robert Byrd was a democrat and he did a great deal for WV.
I also do not understand why people vote social issues as priorities rather than the ones that affect their pocketbooks. Democrats have guns, too; democrats hunt just as do republicans so the fear of taking away guns is unwarranted. When democrats talk about gun control, they support closing loopholes at gun shows and limiting assault weapons. That does not sound unreasonable to me, that sounds smart.
Jody-
Yes Manchin is genuine and he's always there for the people.
Robert Byrd always said that if you open his chest and looked at his heart it would have West Virginia stamped on it. Byrd love this state very much.
Sadly, I guess this is nothing new to some of you in West VA to have someone like Massey Coal buy a state supreme court justice or a US Senator. While government has its shortcomings, it's a hell of a lot better than the company store.
WM-
Massey Coal has bought Spike Maynard and he's running against Rahall and Rahall is way ahead of Spike Maynard.
That's the reason why Massey Coal has gotten off on paying their fines or fixing the mistakes in which they got sited for.
Our friend in Barboursville is right about the guns. No doubt lots of people of the redneck ilk reference gun rights. But it's also two other things: god and gays. It's true and the republicans know it. It's like they give you god (i.e., we are the party of holy people, family values haha, etc.) promise you can keep your assault rifles, and are anti-gay marriage, while at the same time they pick your pocket. People are willing to vote on god, gays and guns, even though the rich keep getting richer and they keep getting poorer. Poor rednecks will even argue vehemently that the rich should keep getting a tax break (i.e., $250,000 isn't really that much money!)!
Watch the religious channels a while. You will see hour long infomercials on why you should vote for the republican party. And spewing lies and hate the entire time against any other party. And a big one is the gun issue, still. I imagine those who are totally political in their broadcasts are paying TAXES on their incomes. Or not.... So without a penny from any big corporations to make their hate commercials, you can still count on the channels that are politically-active endorsers of the right-wing fringe to advertise the right-wing views for an hour at a time. Coming to you direct from God. Yes, they have truly stolen God from the rest of mainstream America.
Thanks Dan in West Virginia!!!
It's pretty sad that people in our great state would vote that way, but they do!
Poor rednecks will even argue vehemently that the rich should keep getting a tax break (i.e., $250,000 isn't really that much money!)!
And then there are the stupid hate mongerers that think people who earn alot of money, should pay a larger percentage of thier income in taxes than anyone else, as long as it is not them.
Hey Frank- my household is fortunate enough to earn over $250 K and I can tell you straight out that I'm not being taxed enough. Our infrastructure is crumbling around our ears and I'm paying 35% in the top bracket (not to mention only 15% on return from my capital gains)? You've gotta be kidding me.
Republicans want to go back to the carefree days of the 50s, you know, back before America was overrun by socialists I guess. The problem is that the top tax bracket in 1960 when JFK took office was 91%! Did anyone ever call Eisenhower a socialist? Didn't think so. He advocated high taxes on the wealthy to, among other things, PAY FOR THE HIGHWAY SYSTEM!
How can we possibly hope to compete in the future with countries investing in infrastructure, education, etal if the people most able to pay taxes continue to hoard the wealth for themselves? Trust me when I tell you that most of my peers are laughing all the way to the bank as the poor and disenfranchised unwittingly tea-party against their own best interests.
The reason the Democrates are in trouble. Where is the Speaker of the House, Congresswoman Pelosi? Why is she not out campaigning for Democrates? Boxer, Brown etc. WHY? Even the President needs to be careful. especially in Nevada. I can see the ad from Angle. President Obama giving in two speeches about not wasting money in Vegas and Senator Reid standing next to Him( job loss).
They see night after night Illegals crossing the border. Then they read and hear. The Democrates talking about DREAM ACT(law). Attempting to offer a path of citizenship. All they see is a bunch of people with $$ over their head. That they will have to support. Look at the % of people who support what"s going on in Arizona battle with Illegals
Health care. The American people just do not under stand it. I worries them. It worries them about the cost to THEM.
Jobs. There is no need to explain this. Some places 14%, National 9.7%
Deficit/ Taxes. They watch as our Deficit climbs by Trillions. Most can invision Trillions of dollars. They know that sooner or later the 97% are going to have to help pay for this by higher Taxes
Blaming Bush. They elected the Democrates into office. They know that they are the Majority. They should be able to get things done. But all they read and hear. Is the Democrates whining and crying. How they can not do anything because of Bush who has been out of office for 2 years. They do not want to hear it. Do your Job, that's why we put you there.
In my opinion this is why the Democrates will lose so badly in the Mid-Terms. They have lost contact with the American People.
A little thing here. I striped all the money from the 100 riches people in America . I then striped all the money from the richest 100 people in the world( some people where on both list I took it again) I added it up. Dos not even cover the Interest on our Deficit. I look forward to someone else doing this and posting it
No, the democrats will lose in the mid-terms because God is on the side of the right-wing fringe. Just watch some of the religious channels. They are bought and paid for by the republicans. You do point out a lot of good thoughts about why the dems are so bad, you think maybe they made some bad decisions. But you don't think about the ramifications of the "end results" of the things that were not "taken care of" these past 20 months. Locking up all illegals will Cost the American citizen ga-zillions. Yeah, something should be done. It has to be comprehensive and nothing got through Congress that was a good comprehensive bill. That was because of the bi-partisan bill writing, and then the republicans only saying No. And it was totally party-controlled. They work with the dems for a bill, water it down with their own touch of right-wing, then don't vote for it to pass. I think we need less repubs in Washington. Maybe then we could get some of those things taken care of that you are so worried about. 20 months.... Obama has been in 20 months. Are you that much different than you were 20 months ago? Bush was in for 8 years. That is 96 months. You do the math.
And how do you stripe money?
My bad. Still have some fun. go add it all up.
Let me see if I understand this. Manchin the Democrat is a good and honest politician, don't send him to Washington because it'll ruin him. Raese, on the other hand doesn't need to be protected from a place that corrupts all those it touches.
I wonder why that could be?
could it be that Manchin talked a good deal about protecting coal miners' safety after a deadly accident, but previously slept with with big coal and got fleas ($$$)?
or taking $$$ from Brickstreet to create a private workers compensation monopoly (as in no private competition), which arbitrarily denies medical care for injured workers and let big coal off the hook for $5 billion in unpaid black lung liabilities? WV budget was balanced by letting big coal off the hook for back taxes and liabilities, instead of making them pony it up
or maybe its the grad degree his daughter was blessed with by WVU, investigated by WVU and political WV elites, who then refused to release the report--she claimed credit for "work experience" on WV Board of Governors was allowed by an individual who stated he never let anyone claim work experience for credit for grad degree?
two votes in my household will go aganist him--I watched as Brickstreet denied my wife coverage for surgery for over 6 months, then denied payment for pain medication immediately following surgery, denied pain medication again following reaggravation of condition after returning to work, which meant more time off work, failed to pay medical bills--now after going through the wringer, they are required to pay. What should have been treated promptly to minimize injury, turned into a 2 year nightmare--my wife is a worker bee and not someone who's out to play the sustem, just wanted treatment and reutrn to work.
More you learn about Joe Manchin, more you realize he's just another finger in the wind corrupt politician and whom he takes money from. He delayed a special election and appointed his aide to replace Sen. Byrd, to keep the Senate seat warm until he could run for it himself now.
From someone who never voted Republican before, the WV emperor wears no clothes. WV citizens are learning about the actual record behind his image and are not buying it anymore--we would have voted Democrat before dealing personally with his version of health care reform, but if they can't do better than this, Dems deserve to go down.