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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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To: MNJohnnie

My bet is the majority.


41 posted on 05/07/2018 8:55:23 AM PDT by billyboy15
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To: Max Tactical

Uour posting like every Left wing extremist stereotype about a “Conservative” outs you as a fraud. We are use to this Leftist propaganda clown tactic around here. You fool no one.


42 posted on 05/07/2018 9:00:19 AM PDT by MNJohnnie ("The political class is a bureaucracy designed to perpetuate itself" Rush Limbaugh)
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Stupid GOP voters!!!
43 posted on 05/07/2018 9:01:21 AM PDT by KavMan
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To: NKP_Vet

Anyone “like” Trump won’t be able to withstand the barrage that Trump did. This guy is going to get slaughtered in the General all because people don’t like McConnell. Short sighted is all. Trump isn’t going to be replicated anytime soon. If Morrisey is “ok” then the obvious solution is to get him in and drop the guy who is an obvious loss.


44 posted on 05/07/2018 9:04:10 AM PDT by wiseprince
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To: GIdget2004
"Internal poll"

Whatever. Anyone who's followed politics long enough knows these are usually B.S. when they're publicly trumpeted/released.

45 posted on 05/07/2018 9:27:26 AM PDT by Trump20162020
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To: GIdget2004

Dems are trying to stop Jenkins.


46 posted on 05/07/2018 9:45:12 AM PDT by Brilliant
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To: tennmountainman

When is the primary?


47 posted on 05/07/2018 9:49:09 AM PDT by Brilliant
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To: Mariner

“As certain as the day is long.

I actually traded posts with one of his supporters yesterday. He insisted I answer his question:

“If not China people, or China Man, what are we supposed to call them”?”


Some people might be space aliens who have problems deciphering the current polite conventions on Planet Earth. Isn’t “nigger” the word for black? Why can’t we call blacks “niggers”? Isn’t “Jap” short for Japan, which is actually the accepted English name for the country? Why can’t we call them “Japs”? Weren’t many Italians actually thugs or pimps (guappo)? Why can’t we call them “wops”?


48 posted on 05/07/2018 9:53:52 AM PDT by Zhang Fei (Journalism is about covering important stories. With a pillow, until they stop moving.)
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To: Brilliant

Jenkins is a Dem.


49 posted on 05/07/2018 9:53:54 AM PDT by Lurkinanloomin (Natural Born Citizen Means Born Here of Citizen Parents__Know Islam, No Peace - No Islam, Know Peace)
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To: tennmountainman

I disagree, which is rare for me with your posts.
Blankenship made a very good impression at the debate.
It’s on youtube.
As long as Jenkins loses, I’m good with either Don or Patrick.


50 posted on 05/07/2018 9:58:58 AM PDT by Lurkinanloomin (Natural Born Citizen Means Born Here of Citizen Parents__Know Islam, No Peace - No Islam, Know Peace)
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To: 9YearLurker
But the opponents of Blankenship, like Trump, have only said, “Vote for one of the other guys!” Splitting the vote like that is a sure way for Blankenship to win.

Very good point. If Blankenship is leading but truly has a cap of less than 50 percent, it would seem to be up to the other two to decide whether they both lose or one drops out and makes it a winnable two person race. Blankenship doesn't seem to be near as big of a problem as the selfishness of the other two.

51 posted on 05/07/2018 10:09:32 AM PDT by etcb
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To: Nifster

As an out-of-stater, I haven’t seen Blankenship’s commercials; but I did watch his debate with his opponents. Jenkins looked and spoke as phony as they come and Morrisey wasn’t much better.

Blankenship had the best comeback when he responded to a question his opponents had answered; “They’re both right. They lied.”

How many people thought Trump could win? Blankenship seems as authentic as Trump. Just more subdued with a drier sardonic humor.

I believe him when he says that the federal Bureau of Mining -UBM was primarily responsible for that mining explosion because of their air flow regulations.

Being down on the coast I know that BSEE was primarily responsible for the most recent Gulf oil spill; not British Petroleum. BSEE was on that rig that exploded. Why weren’t they supervising safety procedures? BP was extorted by the Obama EPA to fork out billions of dollars. BSEE just added extra ‘federales’ to make the same mistakes again.

Blankenship can win with the same fed up voters that elected Trump.

By the way, thank you BP for the new police station and fire station and other crazy things that the BP money was used to pay for down here to prevent further oil leaks. Yeah, that was sarcasm.


52 posted on 05/07/2018 10:17:04 AM PDT by Auslander154 ("Political correctness does not legislate tolerance; it only organizes hatred." Jacques Barzun)
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To: Nifster

ha ha ha ha ha

“U.S. to roll back safety rules created after BP Deepwater Horizon Spill”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/us/trump-offshore-drilling.html

like I said, BP was Obama-hosed.


53 posted on 05/07/2018 10:21:14 AM PDT by Auslander154 ("Political correctness does not legislate tolerance; it only organizes hatred." Jacques Barzun)
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To: GIdget2004

Trump has spoken. West Virginia voters take heed and follow his advice. Patrick Morrisey is the one to vote for. He is backed by both Ted Cruz & Rand Paul!!! Do it!!! Blankenship who rightly cannot stand that loser Mitch McConnell will never in a million years be able to beat the “flawed” Democrat turncoat, Joe Manchin, considering Blankenship’s prison term for mine deaths.

West Virginia...Joe Manchin must be defeated....he had the chance to help his folks and did zilch. Trumpie is the savior of West Virginia. Give Morrisey your support and votes...and let us beat Joe Manchin, come November, 2018. Do it!!!


54 posted on 05/07/2018 10:27:52 AM PDT by JLAGRAYFOX (Defeat both the Republican (e) & Democrat (e) political parties....Forever!!!)
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To: Dilbert San Diego

The GOPe support the Democrat, and helped funds attacks on Roy Moore. That is why he lost.


55 posted on 05/07/2018 10:30:23 AM PDT by SecAmndmt (Arm yourselves!)
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To: etcb

“Very good point. If Blankenship is leading but truly has a cap of less than 50 percent, it would seem to be up to the other two to decide whether they both lose or one drops out and makes it a winnable two person race. Blankenship doesn’t seem to be near as big of a problem as the selfishness of the other two.”


Trump could secure the exit of one of the candidates by promising future endorsements for political office. The question, really, is what a future Trump endorsement is worth, given the way political winds shift. Political office being what it is - a complete break from whatever career ladder you were on - I can’t blame these guys for persisting. Going back to whatever they were doing, whatever number of years ago, would be a major demotion.


56 posted on 05/07/2018 10:35:52 AM PDT by Zhang Fei (Journalism is about covering important stories. With a pillow, until they stop moving.)
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To: Max Tactical

The man is a mass murderer. F-— Blankenship. I’d hold my nose and vote for a Dimocrat before that SOB.


57 posted on 05/07/2018 10:37:15 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: Max Tactical

You’re an idiot....


58 posted on 05/07/2018 10:37:45 AM PDT by rrrod (just an old guy with a gun in his pocket)
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To: SecAmndmt

Moore lost because Al voters couldn’t stomach the creep.


59 posted on 05/07/2018 10:39:49 AM PDT by rrrod (just an old guy with a gun in his pocket)
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To: GIdget2004

I think Trump is making the right call here, because despite his “folksy” appeal, the man was convicted for the deaths of those miners in one of his mines.

So the “folksy” appeal will only go so far, and not that far at that in the general when the Dems hammer away at his conviction. His legal responsibility for the deaths of those miners (right or wrong) won’t sit too well with voters in a state that pretty much lives on coal mining. No matter how conservative the state may becoming, the voters there I’m sure don’t take too kindly to someone who was convicted in the deaths of their own (fellow coal miners).

That is the reason, I’m sure, that Trump says he can’t win the general. And he’s right.


60 posted on 05/07/2018 11:06:08 AM PDT by FourtySeven (47)
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