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Two West Virginia Internal Campaign Polls Show Blankenship Narrowly Edging GOP Rivals
Weekly Standard ^ | 05/07/2018 | John McCormack

Posted on 05/07/2018 8:04:51 AM PDT by GIdget2004

Republicans are panicking as internal polls show Don Blankenship, a coal baron who spent time in jail for a mining disaster that killed 29 workers, surging into the lead in the West Virginia Senate GOP primary over Attorney General Patrick Morrissey and Congressman Evan Jenkins.

The results of an internal campaign poll conducted for one rival Senate campaign on Saturday and Sunday were: Blankenship 31 percent, Jenkins 28 percent, Morrissey 27 percent.

The results of another internal poll conducted Friday and Saturday were: Blankenship 28 percent, Morrissey 27 percent, Jenkins 14 percent. Two weeks earlier, the same rival campaign found Blankenship at 14 percent, Morrissey at 29 percent, and Jenkins at 26 percent.

Politico reported Saturday night that internal polling showed Blankenship surging, but the specific numbers are being reported for the first time by THE WEEKLY STANDARD.

President Donald Trump, who overwhelmingly carried the state in 2016, weighed in on Twitter Monday morning: “To the great people of West Virginia we have, together, a really great chance to keep making a big difference. Problem is, Don Blankenship, currently running for Senate, can’t win the General Election in your State...No way! Remember Alabama. Vote Rep. Jenkins or A.G. Morrisey!”

"If it's truly a two-point race, that Trump tweet is going to make a difference," one West Virginia Senate campaign official tells THE WEEKLY STANDARD. What explains the Blankenship surge? “The debate [Monday on Fox News] helped him because Morrissey and Jenkins did what’s kind of playing out on TV--they’re slicing each other up,” says the campaign official. “Don got to be a one-liner folksy guy.” Second, Blankenship has taken up all the news coverage in the race by labeling Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell as “cocaine Mitch” and launching racist attacks against McConnell for creating jobs for “China people.”

(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: West Virginia
KEYWORDS: 2018midterms; donblankenship; evanjenkins; patrickmorrissey; westvirginia; wv2018
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1 posted on 05/07/2018 8:04:51 AM PDT by GIdget2004
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To: GIdget2004

If Blankenship wins the primary, u can write WV off as a GOP gain.


2 posted on 05/07/2018 8:06:25 AM PDT by tennmountainman ("Prophet Mountainman" Predicter Of All Things RINO...for a small fee.)
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To: tennmountainman

Lot of anger in the state over fake republicanism. Some think Blankenship as their only choice. The theme used in Alabama...required an enormous amount of cash in that last six weeks. I don’t see the DNC coming in with that kind of cash again anytime in 2018.


3 posted on 05/07/2018 8:08:49 AM PDT by pepsionice
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To: GIdget2004

I guess everything I’ve heard about West Virginians is true?


4 posted on 05/07/2018 8:08:51 AM PDT by albie
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To: GIdget2004

Ouch! It is as if Roy Moore never happened. Hate to lose low hanging fruit Senate pickup because wrong guy nominated.


5 posted on 05/07/2018 8:09:09 AM PDT by chuckee
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To: tennmountainman

And how frustrating would that be. West Virginia has been becoming increasingly Republican in recent years. Hate to see Manchin get re-elected by default, because of a flawed GOP candidate.

WE can get snakebit so to speak, can’t we? Alabama is a strong Republican state too, yet Democrat Doug Jones won the special election there.


6 posted on 05/07/2018 8:10:33 AM PDT by Dilbert San Diego
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To: GIdget2004

This says it all from the article:

“If Blankenship manages to win despite Trump’s opposition, it will be a strong data point for Kentucky congressman Thomas Massie’s theory that many Republican primary voters are simply “voting for the craziest son of a bitch in the race.”


7 posted on 05/07/2018 8:12:58 AM PDT by chuckee
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To: GIdget2004

Didn’t DJT carry WV by something like 70-25? If so he should be getting behind someone who can actually win in November...and do it loudly.If we can’t win WV we’re in deep poop.


8 posted on 05/07/2018 8:13:00 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (You Say "White Privilege"...I Say "Protestant Work Ethic")
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To: tennmountainman

If Blankenship wins the WV GOP primary, WV will be a “sinking ship” for the Republicans. Are West Virginians that stupid? Oh, wait a minute ... Wasn’t this the home of KKK Grand Klegal, Senator Robert Byrd?


9 posted on 05/07/2018 8:13:11 AM PDT by JME_FAN (uired to)
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To: Dilbert San Diego

The Rats are going cross over try to put Blankenship on top don’t let them WV!


10 posted on 05/07/2018 8:15:26 AM PDT by gibsonguy
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To: tennmountainman

I would agree.


11 posted on 05/07/2018 8:15:37 AM PDT by HamiltonJay
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To: tennmountainman

Yep.....Blankenship is bad news...


12 posted on 05/07/2018 8:15:41 AM PDT by rrrod (just an old guy with a gun in his pocket)
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To: GIdget2004

I won’t insult West Virginians, but I am curious. Does WV have open primaries? If so, the Dems may throw the primary to Blankenship as he is least likely to win in November against Manchin.


13 posted on 05/07/2018 8:15:44 AM PDT by originalbuckeye ('In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act'- George Orwell.)
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To: GIdget2004

Don Blankenship is a mass murderer. They will be building snowmen in the hot stinky bad place before I would support that man. He is so vile I would seriously consider supporting a Dimocrat over him.


14 posted on 05/07/2018 8:16:10 AM PDT by NRx (A man of integrity passes his father's civilization to his son, without selling it off to strangers.)
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To: pepsionice

“The theme used in Alabama...required an enormous amount of cash in that last six weeks.”

I wonder how much the Hussein Head trolls here made.


15 posted on 05/07/2018 8:16:58 AM PDT by treetopsandroofs
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To: GIdget2004

How much of this is cross over Dems polling for the guy they think they can beat?


16 posted on 05/07/2018 8:18:02 AM PDT by MNJohnnie ("The political class is a bureaucracy designed to perpetuate itself" Rush Limbaugh)
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To: originalbuckeye

https://www.openprimaries.org/states_west_virginia


17 posted on 05/07/2018 8:18:27 AM PDT by treetopsandroofs
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To: tennmountainman

You can bet Manchin is supporting Blankenship now.

Republicans have a way of devouring each other. Both Alabama and West Va are conservative states but somehow the republican party will find a way to lose.

IF THE REPUBLICANS LOSE THIS STATE, Ronna Romney McDaniel NEEDS TO BE FORCED OUT AS CHAIRWOMAN FOR THE PARTY. Enough is enough.


18 posted on 05/07/2018 8:21:30 AM PDT by boycott
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To: GIdget2004

Doubt these polls really exists. It looks like the usual Fake Media propaganda trying to puff up the GOP candidate they think they can beat.


19 posted on 05/07/2018 8:21:35 AM PDT by MNJohnnie ("The political class is a bureaucracy designed to perpetuate itself" Rush Limbaugh)
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To: treetopsandroofs

Thanks. Not good news.


20 posted on 05/07/2018 8:22:22 AM PDT by originalbuckeye ('In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act'- George Orwell.)
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