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Jack Ellis is listed as "Senior Political Analyst for Huntingtonnews.net" but he really offers an alternative reality version of analysis.
Take this quote for just one example:
"But the truth is, we're going through a realignment in West Virginia, and this kind of year has been building for a long time. We've already seen Republicans winning other races, like Shelley Moore Capito doing well in the 2nd Congressional District and Brent Benjamin winning for State Supreme Court."
Reality: Capito is the obvious exception that proves the rule. Capito is the lone Republican in the West Virginia Congressional caucus and she's run each election cycle citing her independence from the Republican party and her endorsements from pro-choice groups. Her web site does not even mention she is a Republican.
Brent Benjamin won in 2004 in a seat bought by Don Blankenship by running a campaign that the Wall Street Journal, hardly a liberal publication, and other national media outlets described as the nastiest campaign in the nation.
So to claim a Republican realignment is occurring at the state level in West Virginia, Ellis has to go all the way back to Republican seats won in 2000 and in 2004. A decade ago and six years ago.
Here's some context from reality for Ellis and his readers: those are the only two. Meanwhile Democrats swept every statewide office and four out of five Congressional offices. In the 2008 election cycle with President Obama at the top of the ticket, Republicans still lost highly funded races for their attorney general and Supreme Court candidates, the secretary of state, and secretary of agriculture as well as auditor, treasurer. Democcrats not only continue to hold on to the House of Delegates, but also the State Senate and have even widened their majorities despite efforts by Don Blankenship to buy Republican seats.
"Who would have thought a few years ago that Justice Spike Maynard could switch parties at his age and be competitive against Congressman Rahall? But that's the new reality we live in now."
That might be the made-up reality Ellis lives in, but here in the real world, Nick Rahall is leading Spike Maynard 59-34. |
