Posted on 12/29/2013 6:54:53 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Democrats in West Virginia have pretty much taken their two Senate seats for granted for a long time now. (And with good reason, since the last time the GOP held those spots, Ike was still president.) They’ve also had a fair bit of success in hanging on to at least some of their three congressional seats in the modern era. This stands in contrast to a seemingly constant ideological shift to the right among voters, demonstrated by the fact that no Democrat presidential candidate has carried the state since Bill Clinton. This shift may be setting the stage for some very interesting events in the 2014 cycle, with the retirement of Senator Jay Rockefeller and two spirited House races shifting into high gear. Specifically in WV-02, Roll Call recently rated that contest on their list of the most fascinating races to watch.
For some reason, they seem to think this is good news for Democrats, but the district still leans Red and the Dems have hooked their wagon to Nick Casey. Casey looks like a terrible choice, given the current frame of mind of West Virginia’s voters. He’s a former lobbyist for progressive groups such as FarinessWV.org and is well known to voters from his time as the incendiary chairman of the state Democratic Party. His long standing support for the President, Obamacare, gun control and a raft of other liberal touchstones doesn’t seem as if it will play well with the more socially conservative base in his district. Further, he’s sharing a media market with the 3rd district and may have a negative impact on their Democratic candidate, Nick Rahall.
In terms of filling the Senate seat, even the Paper of Record is seeing some hard times coming for the Democrats this time around
An accelerating rightward tilt here was reflected recently in an awkward two-step by the Democratic nominee for an open seat, Natalie Tennant, as she distanced herself from the White House after a fund-raising trip to New York.
In a Sheraton ballroom, Ms. Tennant, West Virginia’s secretary of state, listened to Michelle Obama urge donors to write “a big old fat check” to her and other women running for the Senate.
But back home, where President Obama is deeply unpopular, Ms. Tennant’s campaign quickly sought to wriggle out of the embrace of the White House, insisting to the local news media that “what the first lady said is not an endorsement.”
Running away from an endorsement by the First Lady is one thing, but this little slip of the lip about her husband was a doozy.
In an interview, Ms. Tennant even seemed to downgrade the president’s title. “I don’t answer to Senator Obama,” she said. “I answer to the people of West Virginia.” (A spokeswoman later said that was an unintentional slip of the tongue.)
Charleston Democrat leaders are already tossing out statements saying that the GOP can’t “run against Obama” in these races, and if voters want to vote against the President they should, “wait until he runs for school board in Illinois.” It’s obvious at this point that the entire Democrat Party in West Virginia is in full speed retreat away from Barack Obama and all things related to him, but it’s going to be hard for their candidates to erase their combined records of previous support.
West Virginia would be an excellent pick-up opportunity in the GOP’s efforts to take the Senate majority next fall, and solidifying their hold on their House seats would just be icing on the cake. Only a year or so ago I’d have not even listed this race on the radar, but it’s looking extremely competitive now.
Yeah, I forgot that half of the Dems at the convention actually booed God. Imagine, the establishment GOP actually want to impersonate this party. If the Republicans had a brain, a soul and actually cared about something besides money they would drag the Dems over the coals for being the party of political correctness. Everybody HATES political correctness. Instead they actually try to copy the party of politcal correctness. What dummies!
The blue dog Democrats are just beards.
To me this looks like carrying collegiality to a fault.
It’s our negligence as the people that a body politic which is so wrapped up in itself as to ignore us was tolerated. It’s us who are at the top of the Constitution.
America once had an inoculation against this. It was called Judeo-Christian bible belief. The bible emphasized exalting God and staying humble as people, as the means to blessing.
That’s fading now... and we see the results. Worldly minded people go for worldly minded politicians and the result is... shock, horror! ... worldly. Not heavenly.
“”Funny how the Republican establishment are ashamed of people who believe in God...”
The Republican establishment is exactly why the GOP will lose the WV seats. People here are sincere Christians, proud gun owners, sick of environmentalists, have no tolerance for abortion and want fiscal responsibility to return to DC. That is why the dems run conservatives here and win every time. The establishment GOP will not tolerate or support such a conservative candidate. They have never truly supported such candidates in the past and it is common knowledge here. The NRCC has already stated that they would fight tooth and nail to prevent a tea party candidate winning in the primaries. They have already stated that they are supporting pro-abortion, anti-gun, MainStreet Republican Shelley Moore Capito in the senate primaries.
As a WV conservative, we don’t even get a choice. The establishment GOP feels they have the right to pick our candidates. F em!!! I will proudly vote for Natalie Tennant just to send the message to the NRCC to quit pushing liberals on us and keep out of our state primaries!
Extremely competitive? No. It’s a walk for Capito. Tennant is pretty much DOA
Totally agree. There has to be a bottom up revolution if we are to get this country back.
I mistakenly stated she is anti-gun. I thought I remembered some statements she made about the AWB. I was wrong about that and wanted to set the record straight.
I still feel the same about her. Just another liberal Republican.
Mostly just democrats with vote for sale. Remember how they stopped ACA, until their price was met.
Its about coal and guns.
Just unbelievable the Dems blew this state off.
“Extremely competitive? No. It’s a walk for Capito. Tennant is pretty much DOA”
I remember when the GOP talking heads said the same thing last time Byrd ran. They said No Way he could win even though no GOP candidate had even filed yet. Then Byrd won by a landslide without even campaigning or spending a dime.
We all remember how the establishment GOP threw the senate 4 years ago rather than let a tea party candidate win. In the general election, they withdrew all money and support from such candidates in at least 3 races - Angle, Alaska, Connecticut. Maybe more. They are more afraid of the tea party gaining critical mass than they are of the dems. And look where it got us. They deserve their share of the blame for the mess we are in.
2014 ought to be a historic election for the GOP in West Virginia. They are only 5 seats away from taking control of the 100 seat House of Delegates (lower house of the legislature) and may make major inroads in the state senate, where 17 of the 34 seats are up for grabs, 12 of them currently held by ‘Rats) (the GOP is in the minority in the WV Senate by a 24-10 count currently).
The article doesn’t mention that Nick Joe Rahall is somewhat of an institution in WV, having served 21 terms in the US House after first being elected in 1972. When he departs the scene, this district ought to become solidly republican like neighboring districts in Virginia and Kentucky, and the political realignment in WV will be complete.
Yeah, Mary Landrieu with her Lousiana purchase, Ben Nelson with his Cornhusker deal and Bart Stupak. These were supposed to be pro-life Democrats who were taking money from the Pro-Life organizations while making deals with the Dems. Remember the elaborate deal they made? It was the exact same devious tactic that they used in the amnesty for illegal aliens. First the Dems tried to make a deal with John McCain and his usual band of collaborators, then when this didn’t work, they realized they didn’t have enough Dems in the liberal areas of the country so they had to go to the more ‘conservative’ Democrats like Landrieu, Nelson and STupak. They didn’t have the cover of the McCain faction of the Republicans so they couldn’t use the old canard about it being a ‘bipartisan’ deal. They were flushed out and shown for what they were.
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