Posted on 11/08/2010 12:37:07 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Most people only expected hardball efforts to get party switchers in the Senate if it wound up closely divided, either 50-50 or 51/49 in either direction. However, Fox reports today that Senate Republicans have greeted special-election victor Joe Manchin (D-WV) with a big push to get him into the GOP caucus. And they may well have found a way to convince him to join the minority:
Republicans are making some big promises to try to lure West Virginia Senator-elect Joe Manchin to cross the aisle.
Aside from his pick of committee assignments (likely the Energy and Natural Resources Committee), Manchin might get support for one of his pet projects – a plant to convert coal to diesel fuel that has stalled under Democratic leadership in Washington.
It’s one of Manchin’s pet projects and could mean big money for the state’s coal producers.
“Republicans believe in an ‘all of the above’ approach to energy,” one top Senate aide told Power Play. “And coal-to-diesel could certainly be part of that.”
Manchin’s switch could mean Republican support for not just $1 billion in seed money for the project but also a deal, much sought in coal country, to require the armed forces to use converted coal for fuel.
Republicans believe Manchin is particularly susceptible to the overture because he is up for reelection in 2012 and will have to be on the ticket with President Obama, who is direly unpopular in West Virginia. Democrat Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Independent Joe Lieberman are the other two prime targets of Republican advances.
The response from Manchin’s team won’t make Democrats feel very secure. Essentially, they don’t commit to much of anything except “to try in good faith to make changes” to the Democratic Party from within, since they just got him elected to fill Robert Byrd’s remaining term. The message is that either Democrats have to change direction in the Senate or Manchin might take some of this wooing seriously.
Will he jump? If he did and Nelson comes with him to protect his own prospects in 2012 — which were seriously damaged by his acquiescence on ObamaCare — then that would leave Republicans with only 49 seats. They would need to get someone else to jump, like perhaps Mark Pryor, who watched his colleague Blanche Lincoln get slaughtered in the midterms last week, to get to 50. Fox focuses on Joe Lieberman, but he has less reason to switch now than before. Not only is the Iraq War no longer a big concern, but Lieberman just watched a self-funding Republican in Connecticut lose big to a Democratic establishment candidate in the middle of a Republican teanami. Lieberman wouldn’t stand a chance of getting re-elected as a Republican in 2012, nor is he a fan of Tea Party political positions anyway.
Even getting to 50 won’t mean control of the agenda. Joe Biden will cast the deciding vote on leadership positions, which means Harry Reid will still control the Senate, although committee assignments will become more equitable, according to tradition. Manchin will have to spend two years in the minority and then hope his personal approval ratings remain high enough to prevail against another Democrat in 2012.
Manchin’s team promises to consider the options if Democrats refuse to change directions. I’ll go out on a limb and guess that Manchin will give them about 18 months to prove themselves one way or another, and then align himself with the party that promises him the brightest future when the 2012 election nears.
why?
We don’t need another RINO
why?
We don’t need another RINO
WOW!
He’s truly sitting in the CAT BYRD seat;)
GOP is truly the Stupid Party. Rather than grooming someone to replace Manchin in 2012 they want to appease him. Same old same old crap.
“Manchin’s switch could mean Republican support for not just $1 billion in seed money for the project but also a deal, much sought in coal country, to require the armed forces to use converted coal for fuel.”
Nice to see that the Republicans are will to spend a Billion Dollars of Our Money to entice someone to switch parties.
So much for the GOP being the party of fiscal responsibility.
The improper use of a RINO is to bring him into the Republican party machinery where he can pick and chose primary candidates, and direct funds hither and yon to different people.
We don't need that kind of RINO.
Another advantage with this one is WE KNOW WHAT HE IS.
Manchin might not be a RINO if he becomes a Republican.
I’d say let’s not go after Lieberman, but Manchin might be ok.
The voters of WV do not like Obama, and the voters of WV would not likely put any pressure on Manchin to vote with the Dems. More likely, they’d pressure him to vote with the Republicans.
Manchin was a conservative Democrat in the state legislature but then lost a Democrat primary for governor to a more liberal candidate.
He moved far enough left to appease the liberals, won the next gubernatorial nomination, and went on to win the seat.
He compiled a pretty conservative record as governor and was ranked as one of the country's best governor's by conservative think tanks.
However, with the risk of Democratic fortunes during Bush's second term and the initial popularity of Barack Obama, Manchin drifted toward and went along with the national Democratic Party on ObamaCare and other things.
Faced with electoral defeat at the hands of conservative businessman John Raese, Manchin reversed course and ran hard right against Obama & Co.
46 is good enough until 2012 when round 2 starts!!
46 is good enough until 2012 when round 2 starts!!
Who’s more conservative Manchin or Kirk?
Is Manchin Pro-life?
The objective has to be to GET RID OF OBAMA and 12 more Democrat senators.
We need a veto proof House and Senate
Too bad the GOP lost this election and has to go buy off another WV Sinator. How bout letting him come to us?
Pray for America
WV is is a poor state and coal is king.
He should take the offer and vote with the Pubs.
A *lot* of WV Dems are more conservative than RINOs.
Often, you’ll think you’re talking to a staunch conservative R only to find out the other person is a Dem.
They’re closer to God & Guns Dixiecrats than the new liberal Dems.
In WV, the Dems make sure you can carry a gun.
Contrast that to Dems in the People’s Republic of MD.
It’s kind of a politically complex state that time has passed by.
Any time somebody says “A civil war would be easy because we’ve got all the guns” has never been to WV.
Those hard scrabble mountaineers are no slouches with firearms.
This may not be a perfect “political analysis” but I know my neighbors and kinfolk.
I’m descended from them and spend a lot of time with them.
Ha ha ha....
Manchin, hands down. As a Republican, his voting record would probably be in the middle of the GOP caucus. As a Democrat, he's more likely to go along with the party line on certain issues.
Is Manchin Pro-life?
Yes.
The best thing that WV could have done-—JMO—
Leave Manchin as Gov. and put Raese in as Sen.
King Coal would have the best of both worlds.
Officially yes.
But he did a hell of job making sure he never had to prove it.
From what I understand, the dems put a pro-abortion guy in charge of the committee in the legislature that would have sent an abortion bills up for vote.
Any kind of anti-abortion bill gets killed in that committee.
Manchin is a conservative Democrat. He’d have good reason to switch and keep his job in 2012.
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