If Manchin wants to be senator, he should just appoint himself and be done with it

[SoCalDem]

I'm sure he would not be the first, and he could still set up a special election if he wanted to, before he appointed himself.

It's hard to believe that with such an elderly senator as was Byrd, that there had not been a LOT of fore-thought about this.

If he has a special election and does not appoint himself, I'd bet my last buck that a republican will replace Byrd.. No one thought Kennedy's seat would go R, but it did..

[Ruby the Liberal]

1. He did discuss this about a year ago when Byrd was in the hospital

He stated (IIRC) that he couldn't appoint himself but would run. There were names thrown out at the time, all moderate Dems.

[Zen Democrat]

2. Nope. Manchin has this seat lock stock and barrel.

This seat will stay Democratic, but wondering how long he's going to wait to appoint someone is the question. If the AG in WV okays the special election in November, Manchin will appoint a seat-filler that won't run for the seat, but I have a feeling that if the AG says they have to wait for 2012 to have an election, Manchin will think hard about appointing himself, even though he said he wouldn't. This special election is a way of getting him in there via election, or of making every good faith effort to avoid appointing himself, before he does just that. That, or he'll appoint one of Byrd's daughters to hold the seat for him until 2012. If Nick Rahall wants it, he could give Manchin a run for his money with his long-time connection to Byrd, but I think it will be Manchin.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

3. Yer right SCD........

I cannot bring myself to believe that he has been caught out by Byrd's passing. There should have been a contingency plan in place in the event of emergency succession. So why the delay? Either they honestly thought our elected officials would live forever or there's personal ambition at work here. Hmmm... I wonder which?

Thanks for paying attention to this SCD.