The weakness of the GOP bench

by: Carnacki

Fri Jul 13, 2007 at 10:15:00 AM EDT

Me from May 7:

Meanwhile, the West Virginia Republicans are going to have to make a decision. Either offer up Capito as a sacrificial challenger to Senator Jay Rockefeller so that it appears they have a legitimate candidate (unlike what's his name? against Senator Byrd in '06) or else they're going to have to run yet another no-name against him, which will free up Democratic campaign contributions for other races. Hoppy Kercheval is reporting that Secretary of State Betty Ireland, the only Republican holding a statewide office that has any name recognition, apparently is going to not seek reelection for her post to run for state senator. So Capito either has to challenge Rockefeller for the Senate like her Republican handlers want her to do or she'll have to run an increasingly uphill re-election bid against Unger or Barth.

Of course, Capito saw she had no chance to defeat Rockefeller. She's vulnerable in her own re-election bid.

From the Charleston Gazette today:

State Republicans don’t plan to give away the Secretary of State’s Office in 2008, despite incumbent Betty Ireland’s announcement Wednesday that she would not be a candidate.

“When you lose somebody known statewide like Betty, it hurts,” Dr. Doug McKinney, state GOP chairman, conceded Thursday.

snip

Facing a Democratic ticket led by U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller and Gov. Joe Manchin will be a challenge for the GOP, McKinney admits. Candidates for those two posts haven’t been knocking down his door, he aid.

John Raese, the Morgantown multimillionaire businessman who lost in 2006 to Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, has done extensive polling throughout the state, a statewide radio show operated by his business said earlier this week. The show released only portions of the poll dealing with presidential preferences and showed Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., leading in the state.

Raese has been mentioned as an opponent to Rockefeller, who defeated him in a close 1984 race. The MetroNews statewide radio show did not release any information about another potential Raese-Rockefeller race, though McKinney said he’s been told the results were not good.

“I haven’t seen the poll,” he said. “I understand it was not very favorable [between Rockefeller and Raese].”

I've got an idea I've been working on for some time to help out the West Virginia GOP.

The rightwingers in the state have been doing such a great job at making Capito look bad -- not that she needs their help in doing that -- that I feel I owe them one. So I have the perfect candidate for them to run against Gov. Joe Manchin. I'll announce it soon.