Manchin's Dilemma... The Democrat's Dilemma

by: wvblueguy

Fri Sep 24, 2010 at 15:24:14 PM EDT

I went to see our First Lady Gayle Manchin speak last night at the Mercer County, WV Democratic Club in Princeton.  First off she is an excellent speaker and held the attention of the crowd for the full time she spoke.  She was interrupted twice with applause. 

The meat of her speech concerned the frustration that her husband is facing with regard to the problems they are facing running against what most of us would normally have perceived as a non-candidate in John Raese.  Mrs Manchin was very blunt as she explained the conundrum of having West Virginia's extremely popular Governor (70% or higher favorable going into the last 2 years of his term) locked into an extremely close Senate race that could go either way depending upon which poll you are looking at right now.

The Manchins firmly believe that they are running against their own party in Washington as opposed to the favorables of how Governor Manchin job performance is perceived in the state house. Manchin really wants to run on his ability to get things done for the people of West Virginia and how astute he has been in working across party lines. I believe that this frustration has affected the message he is sending out to voters that are likely voting against the party rather than the candidate they vote for.  

Mrs Manchin mentioned that the Governor did not enter the race to lose and that he has always had a "fire in his belly"  when he is campaigning.  She was clear in stating that his candidacy needs our support to get out the vote and insure that we have someone in our great Senator Robert Byrd's Senate seat in Washington that cares about and will fight for the needs of the people of West Virginia.

I have been to several events with fellow Democrats in the last month, and am extremely pleased with the enthusiasm I have seen from party stalwarts in this part of the state.  The real question is getting people out in the field making the calls and canvassing to drum up support for candidates like Joe Manchin and Nick Rahall that have proven that they do care for the people and not just big coal and big business.  I do not agree with their positions with regard to mountain top removal and on some other issues, but am really afraid of the damage that will be done to our state if either Raese or Maynard are elected in November. 

I would like to see Manchin campaigning with "fire in his belly" and supporting positions that motivate the base of the West Virginia Democratic Party.  I don't think he has being doing enough of that.  A good example of this to me was the position he took with regard to the Bush tax cuts. Every day that goes by without action by Democrats brings us a little closer to another 2 years of a congress that will get even less done than our current Senate

Check out what John Cole has to say on West Virginia Democrats below the fold...

John Cole called the performance of Ron Oliverio out in Congressional District 1 pretty well yesterday on Balloon Juice.  You can read the post by clicking here.

We’re just a few weeks out from the election, I still have never heard from any Democrat official in my area asking me for my help, the Oliverio campaign is non-existent as far as I can tell (I haven’t seen so much as a sign), Congressional Dems seem to have just said to hell with it, and about the only thing I imagine I’ll be doing is hosting an OFA call party.

I’m sitting here screaming “HELP ME HELP YOU,” and they Democrats ain’t listening.

All of us are frustrated with the lack of fire in our candidates.  I'd like to see some of the enthusiasm in counties like Mercer, Greenbrier, Summers and Monroe carry over to the candidates.  Our national candidates all need to get out and mix it up with the people. They just don't seem to realize that it is impossible to work both sides of the aisle in Washington as no matter what the Democrats do or say Republicans are not going to support them. So come on guys get some cojones and go after the do nothing republicans.