West Virginia's 'centrist' governor readies for national role (Byrd's Senate seat)

[Bozita]

Source: PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW

West Virginia's 'centrist' governor readies for national role
By Mike Wereschagin
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, June 27, 2010

Most of the country sees West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin after a coal mine tragedy.

Lately, he's been preparing for a different role. Manchin, 62, is considering a Senate run should Robert Byrd, 92, the longest-serving senator in U.S. history, decide not to seek a 10th term in 2012.

On June 4, Manchin created a federal political action committee, Country Roads PAC, to pay for political travel and donations. He campaigned for Mark Critz, the Pennsylvania Democrat who won a special election May 18 to succeed the late Rep. John Murtha, D-Johnstown. Manchin said he's laying the groundwork to support "centrist candidates who can ... bring the warring parties, if you will, together."

Next month, he is expected to become chairman of the National Governors Association after serving a year as vice chairman.

Read more: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/regional/s_687877.html

---

I for one do not like the results of putting "centrist" and "Democrat" in a single sentence.

[Hardrada]

1. Why don't they just say Nixonian Republican.

[Drunken Irishman]

4. Because you can be a centrist and a Democrat.

[elleng]

17. Darn right,

and like it or not, most Americans are 'centrist,' one way or another. 'Liberal' socially, 'conservative' financially, or vice versa. The word does NOT MEAN BAD!

As to Mancin, I just don't know.

[alarimer]

27. What the media calls the "center" is actually right-wing.

Most people, if asked specific questions, actually believe a lot of liberal things. It's all in the framing.

Centrist Democrats would be Republicans, if Republicans weren't so certifiably nuts.

I don't like centrists (or moderates). They are simply DINOS. They make common cause with people who hate "the little people". They
are responsible for policies that actually do harm.

[Hardrada]

29. In Name Only.

Just completing your sentence, old chap.

[rasputin1952]

2. Just read where Byrd was admitted to the hospital w/heat exhaustion...

dehydration. He's pretty frail...wish him the best though, and a recovery that is swift.

[pscot]

23. There's no "recovery" from being 92

n/t

[bluestateguy]

3. From what I hear he remains rather popular

Unless the polls I have seen are outdated.

And he is 100% pro-gun, and we need more of that in the Democratic Party.

[sadbear]

5. Don't guns have plenty of support without Democrats?

[frebrd]

6. There are a great many of us Democrats........

who are Second Amendment supporters!

[papadog]

14. If everyone carried a gun, folks would be much calmer in their

interactions with other people. When I lived near DC the thugs banked on you not having a means of defense. Now I live in Texas and there's less road rage, less violent crimes in general. You'd have to be pretty stupid to break into someones house if there's a better than average chance that they have guns in there.

[annabanana]

15. yeah... NO ONE is ever nervous where everyone is armed

:eyes:

[papadog]

16. wierd huh? but true.......

[jmowreader]

22. They do, and that's a huge problem

Republicans win elections by claiming their opponent is out to "take their guns." Like guns or hate them, that's a big problem: gun owners VOTE, and not for antigun candidates.

Shrub used the "the Massachusetts Liberal is out to take your guns" to defeat Kerry in a lot of places. Never mind the fact Kerry loves to hunt--I guess Democrats who hunt use slingshots or something. Therefore, we must field candidates who are at least tolerant of gun owners' rights.

I wish some Democrat would stand up and say, "yes, I'm a gun grabber. I'm going to grab drug dealers' guns. I'm going to grab child molestors' guns. I'm going to grab convicted felons' guns. I am NOT going to grab law-abiding citizens' guns, and I won't tolerate anyone who wants to." And that's the thing: just about everyone who's sane, including most of the membership of the NRA, thinks bona fide criminals should not have guns. I think a "get the guns away from criminals, let law-abiding citizens keep theirs" platform would sell--because it beats the hell out of the Republican platform which essentially calls for letting private citizens have access to antiaircraft guns.

[Odin2005]

24. "Gun Control" was started by racists scared of the Black Panthers.

Funny that.

[elocs]

7. No we don't. Odd that "pro-guns" is the only issue you mention.

Must be the most important one, right?

[jazzhound]

8. If I may chime in.........

..........depends on how you define "important". If by important you mean "the issue that delivers us more needless political losses than any other" then yes......it's the most important.

[bluestateguy]

13. Indeed

It's about getting those Scots-Irish males in Appalachia voting Democratic.

I'm sorry, but I will not apologize. It's kind of important to me to have these people on our side.

[WCGreen]

20. Yes indeed....

[Bette Noir]

9. Bad timing on this announcement.

The time to announce for a job is not when the guy you want to replace is sick.

[Bette Noir]

10. Good Lord. This has become another gun thread?

[KamaAina]

11. Pgh. Tribune-Review is not a legitimate news source

it's the house organ of right-wing gazillionaire Richard Mellon Scaife, he who funded the "Arkansas Project" to slime Clinton.

edit: that doesn't mean Manchin doesn't have his eye on the seat, just that we should be linking to real news outlets like the Pgh. Post-Gazette instead.

[dsc]

12. assuming you didn't have a problem with Byrd

I fail to see having a problem with this centrist. Byrd was right about the war, and admittedly took a very liberal position on it, but aside from that, I can't see a huge progressive streak in him.

[Tx4obama]

18. Statement from Governor Manchin regarding Senator Byrd....

Governor Joe Manchin released the following statement Sunday:

"Both Gayle and I are thinking about and praying for Sen. Byrd and his family.

"We are truly hopeful that he gets well soon because West Virginians need his leadership in Washington. Sen. Byrd is a true champion for our state."

http://www.wvmetronews.com/index.cfm?func=displayfullstory&storyid=37811

[lobodons]

19. Who to appoint in the interim if needed

Anyone in the know on this? Surely if he wants it at some point in time, the appointee should only be a temp fill in, right?

[Tx4obama]

21. Regarding Byrd's seat

From FiveThirtyEight.com

Excerpt:

Byrd's current term expires on January 3, 2013. Under West Virginia state law on handling Senate vacancies, "if the vacancy occurs less than two years and six months before the end of the term, the Governor appoints someone to fill the unexpired term and there is no election". Otherwise, Manchin would appoint an interim replacement, and an special election would be held in November to determine who held the seat in 2011 and 2012.

In other words, we are within a week of the threshold established by West Virginia law. If a vacancy were to be declared on July 3rd or later, there would not be an election to replace Byrd until 2012. If it were to occur earlier, there could potentially be an election later this year, although there might be some ambiguities arising from precisely when and how the vacancy were declared.

Full article: http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2010/06/senator-byrd-is-ill-note-on-west.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

[FBaggins]

26. It gets even more complicated than that.

Legal challenges could pop up over when a vacancy occurs. Is the seat not vacant because the Governor hasn't declared it as such yet? There there's the issue of a primary. The law says that there will be a special election if the vacancy occurs more than two years and six months from the end of his term... but it also appears to say that it will take place after the next primary - and WV held their primary two months ago.

Further complicating things... I think that Manchin wants that seat (and has been waiting for it)... but if he appoints himself with four months to go to an election, he could easily lose. If he has two years before he has to defend it, maybe it's a good idea.

[Tx4obama]

28. Update regarding Vacancy

From FiveThirtyEight.com

WV Special Election is Unlikely Until 2012

UPDATE: 11:50 AM. I'm now hearing from a well-placed source that the Secretary of State's office is very likely to interpret the law as requiring a special election in 2012, rather than in November, because the candidate filing period for this year has already passed and because there is a court precedent on the books which supported this interpretation.

If this scenario comes to transpire, there would actually be both a special election and a general election on the ballot in November 2012 -- although the winner of the special election would only serve during the lame duck period between the elections and when the new Congress convened in January, 2013.

The West Virginia Secretary of State will hold a press conference at 4:30 today at which an official decision is announced.

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2010/06/wv-secretary-of-state-no-decision-yet.html

[jmowreader]

25. Does anyone know anything about Earl Ray Tomblin?

If we lose Senator Byrd in, say, mid-July or August, whoever is put into the seat will serve out the good Senator's term which ends in 2012. Governor Manchin is putting out feelers about running for the seat, so there's a pretty good likelihood he'll appoint himself to it. It's been done before and it's perfectly legal.

So...if Governor Manchin becomes Senator Manchin, or the president does the right thing and appoints Manchin head of the Mine Safety and Health Administration--there's probably no elected official in America who's got as high a percentage of his population working in mines as Manchin, so he definitely knows the issues involved--we're probably going to wind up with Tomblin in the governor's mansion.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

30. As I said in the other thread, Manchin = Zell Miller II

Besides being a pal of Massey CEO Don Blankenship, Manchin even helped form a group of rightwing Democrats to back the GOP nominee for governor in 1996, because they didn't like the progressive Democratic nominee. The result was the election of an extreme right coal executive, Cecil Underwood. The national GOP saw this as an opening and began investing in W.Va. Bush won the state, and Capito, the GOP daughter of a convicted felon governor was sent to congress four years later.

Anyone who's watched this guy in W.Va can tell you he's a rightwing snake.

[Ed Barrow]

31. Byrd special election to be held in 2012

Source: Washington Post

West Virginia Secretary of State Natalie Tennant (D) announced this afternoon that a special election to replace the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D) will be held in 2012, not this fall as some had speculated.

Calling the state election code an "interesting" document, Tennant said that because the filing deadline for this election had long passed that the "next" election for a special to be held was not November 2010 but November 2012.

Democrats had predicted Tennant's decision, insisting the law was clear and citing a 1994 case decided by the state Supreme Court that affirmed the idea of a delayed special.

...

The next thing to watch for is who Gov. Joe Manchin appoints for the remaining two plus year of Byrd's term. Manchin is widely seen to have an eye on the Senate race in 2012 -- when his second term is up -- and would then likely put a caretaker in place to hold the seat only until he could run for it. The most mentioned name as a caretaker is former state party chairman Nick Casey.


Read more: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/senate/byrd-special-election-to-be-he.html?wprss=thefix

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

32. Be warned: Joe Manchin = Zell Miller II

Besides being a pal of Massey CEO Don Blankenship, Manchin even helped form a group of rightwing Democrats to back the GOP nominee for governor in 1996, because they didn't like the progressive Democratic nominee. The result was the election of an extreme right coal executive, Cecil Underwood. The national GOP saw this as an opening and began investing in W.Va. Bush won the state and Capito, the GOP daughter of a convicted felon governor was sent to congress four years later.

Anyone who's watched this guy in W.Va can tell you he's a rightwing snake.