Nick Rahall Has Forgotten Who He Represents
“Nick Rahall can’t keep pretending to support West Virginia’s energy industry and working families while supporting a President who is waging an unmitigated war on coal that is destroying jobs. After 36 years in Washington Nick Rahall has forgotten who he represents and West Virginians are ready to send him home.” – NRCC spokesman Nat Sillin
May 2, 2012 Rahall: “I’m supporting Democrats this November, and that includes the Democratic nominee for president.”
NOTE: “It was energy, energy, energy. Any other questions?” said Robert Rupp, an expert on the state’s politics at West Virginia Wesleyan College.”
“The Obama administration has taken a number of steps to crimp new coal mines and to bulk up regulations on coal-fired power plants, all of which have echoed loudly in a heavily coal-reliant state. As a result, many of the state’s top Democrats, including Sen. Joe Manchin, have distanced themselves from Mr. Obama.”
West Virginia Vote Was All About Coal
Wall Street Journal
Neil King
May 9, 2012
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/05/09/west-virginia-vote-was-all-about-coal/?mod=wsj_share_twitter
In West Virginia, some are calling it a howl of protest. Others, a blunt message addressed directly to President Barack Obama.
Either way, the fact that a convicted felon now serving 17 ½ years in a Texas prison nabbed more than 40% of the vote against President Obama in the Democratic primary has Democrats and others scrambling to explain the outcome.
For Larry Puccio, the state’s Democratic Party chairman, the conclusion is obvious. “A lot of folks here have real frustration with this administration’s stance on coal and energy,” he said. “They are frustrated and they are upset, and they wanted to send Obama a message.”
“It was energy, energy, energy. Any other questions?” said Robert Rupp, an expert on the state’s politics at West Virginia Wesleyan College.
The Obama administration has taken a number of steps to crimp new coal mines and to bulk up regulations on coal-fired power plants, all of which have echoed loudly in a heavily coal-reliant state. As a result, many of the state’s top Democrats, including Sen. Joe Manchin, have distanced themselves from Mr. Obama.
Natalie Tenant, the state’s Democratic secretary of state, said her term of art for what happened was “a statement vote. And the primary is the time to make that statement.”
The reality is, Mr. Obama was never popular in the otherwise intensely Democratic party. He got one of his lowest vote tallies of the 2008 primary there, fetching just 26% of the vote against Hillary Clinton, tied for worst only with his Arkansas results. And he lost by a wide margin there in the general election against Sen. John McCain.
A recent poll had him down by 17 percentage points in a match-up against Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee.
Mr. Obama’s competitor in the primary, Keith Judd, got on the ballot by filing the necessary paperwork and paying the $2,500 filing fee—from a federal penitentiary in Texas, where he is serving time on an extortion conviction.
Mr. Judd has run for higher office many times before. In 2008, he came in third in the Idaho Democratic primary. He describes himself on his resume as a sound engineer and part-time bass player.
His candidacy attracted so little note that few had any idea they were voting for a convict in casting their ballot for Mr. Judd.
“I would say that 90% of voters who voted for him did not know that Mr. Judd was a Texas convict,” said Mr. Rupp.
“But any John Doe would have gotten the same number of votes.”
Mr. Puccio, the Democratic chairman, predicted that many who cast Judd votes will come back to cast Obama votes in November. But no one predicts Mr. Obama will be competitive in the state.