Salon.com > Lawrence Messina

Manchin appears to be shoo-in for Byrd’s Senate seat

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 20:43:00 +0000

The top GOP prospect for the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd's seat said Wednesday she won't run, leaving the state's Democratic governor the clear favorite as his party looks to keep its Senate majority in November.

Republican U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito announced she would not enter the race a day after popular Gov. Joe Manchin launched his campaign to fill the remaining two-plus years of Byrd's term. The filing deadline for candidates is Friday.

West Virginia GOP Chairman Doug McKinney said he has not heard from any Republican seriously weighing a bid and noted that a candidate would likely need to raise several million dollars quickly to mount a credible campaign.

A Democratic challenger for Manchin did step forward Wednesday: Ken Hechler, a 95-year-old former congressman and secretary of state. The primary will be Aug. 28.

He said his candidacy will be a chance for voters to oppose a controversial strip mining method known as mountaintop removal that exposes coal seams through large-scale blasting. Manchin is a champion of the state's coal industry, which considers the method highly efficient.

GOP top prospect won’t seek Byrd’s Senate seat

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 15:46:00 +0000

The GOP's top prospect for the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd's seat said Wednesday she won't run, leaving the state's Democratic governor the clear favorite for now as his party looks to hold on to its Senate majority in November.

Rep. Shelley Moore Capito made the announcement a day after popular Gov. Joe Manchin launched his campaign, making him the only candidate so far in a special election to fill the remaining two-plus years of Byrds' term. The filing deadline is Friday.

The bid marks the latest rise in profile for the 62-year-old Manchin since the former state lawmaker captured the governor's office in 2004 after a term as secretary of state. He became chairman of the National Governors Association earlier this month, enjoys high approval ratings in his state and was seen as a comforter-in-chief to victims' families following April's Upper Big Branch mine explosion and the 2006 Sago mine disaster.

West Virginia GOP Chairman Doug McKinney said he's not heard from any Republicans seriously weighing a run. He noted that any candidate would likely need to raise several million dollars to mount a credible campaign in a short timeframe.

W.Va. governor says he’ll run for Senate

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:23:00 +0000

West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin confirmed Tuesday he will run for the U.S. Senate to fill the late Robert C. Byrd's unexpired term.

Manchin's announcement ended speculation on whether the popular Democratic governor would swap the 26 months that would remain in his second term for a chance to serve a similar amount of time left in Byrd's term.

The national profile of the 62-year-old Manchin has steadily increased since the former state lawmaker captured the governor's office in 2004 after a term as secretary of state. News audiences around the country saw him comfort victim's families and rally for improved safety and rescue measures following West Virginia coal mining disasters in 2006 and again this year at the Upper Big Branch mine.

"If I am so fortunate and honored to have the support of the people of West Virginia, I can't fill his shoes," Manchin said of Byrd. "I can only hope to follow his footsteps and serve the people of West Virginia as best I can."

The governor's announcement came after he and legislative leaders resolved their differences over the succession process. The legislation, approved late Monday, calls for an Aug. 28 primary and Nov. 2 general election for the seat. It also calls for a four-day candidate filing period, which started Tuesday.

Ex-Manchin aide tapped for Byrd seat

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:22:05 +0000

Gov. Joe Manchin is tapping former chief counsel Carte Goodwin, a member of a prominent West Virginia family, to succeed the late U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, Democratic officials told The Associated Press on Friday.

Three people familiar with the governor's pick spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment ahead of an official announcement.

Manchin is scheduled to present his appointee at a Friday afternoon press conference at the Capitol. His choice is expected to be sworn in as a senator on Tuesday.

The 36-year-old Goodwin, a Charleston lawyer, would hold the seat until November. That's when the governor wants general election voters to decide who will serve the final two years of Byrd's term. The Legislature has begun a special session to consider a proposal from Manchin to allow for a fall vote.

Byrd was the longest-serving senator in history when he died last month at 92. Goodwin, the youngest among those considered potential choices, worked on Manchin's 2004 campaign for governor before becoming his chief lawyer. He served in that post until shortly after Manchin began his second term in 2009, leaving for his family's law firm.

Crews search mine for missing in West Virginia blast

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 12:25:00 +0000

Rescue crews began working their way by rail car and on foot through a West Virginia coal mine early Thursday in search of four miners missing since a blast killed 25 colleagues in the worst U.S. mining disaster in more than two decades.

Gov. Joe Manchin said crews entered the Upper Big Branch mine, about 30 miles south of Charleston, at 4:55 a.m. EDT and hoped to reach the area where they might find the missing miners sometime before noon.

"They are advancing," Manchin told an early morning news briefing. "They'll move as rapidly as they possibly can."

Rescuers had to wait to enter the mine until crews drilled holes deep into the earth to ventilate lethal carbon monoxide, highly explosive hydrogen, as well as methane gas, which has been blamed for the explosion. The air quality was deemed safe enough for four teams of eight members each to go on what officials were still calling a rescue mission.

Officials and townsfolk alike admitted they didn't expect to find any of the four missing miners alive more than two days after the massive explosion. Poisonous gases have filled the underground tunnels since Monday afternoon's blast

25 dead in W.Va. mine blast, worst since 1984

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 12:30:00 +0000

Four coal miners were missing after an explosion that killed 25 and poison gases blocked rescuers Tuesday from resuming their search in the worst U.S. mining disaster in more than two decades.

Rescuers began drilling three deep holes to vent methane and carbon monoxide from the mine so that search teams can go back in. But it will take until evening to get the first hole done and see if the mine air will allow re-entry , Gov. Joe Manchin said.

The blast rocked Massey Energy Co.'s sprawling Upper Big Branch mine, about 30 miles south of Charleston, Monday afternoon.

Manchin said at an early morning news briefing that while drilling on at least one of the three holes was slated to begin soon, it would take perhaps 12 hours before the drilling was complete and rescue teams could be sure of their safety in the mine, meaning the search wasn't expected to resume before 6 p.m.

"It's going to be a long day and we're not going to have a lot of information until we can get the first hole through," Manchin said.

The drills need to bore through about 1,100 feet of earth and rock, he said.

States scramble on campaign spending limits

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 19:01:00 +0000

The U.S. Supreme Court's rejection of decades-old campaign spending limits gives states scant time to face an election-year dilemma: brace for a flood of new money in politics, or find new ways to rein it in.

Within days of the ruling, state legislatures started reacting. At least eight states are pushing for greater disclosure of political spending by corporations and unions. At least three states, led by West Virginia, would go further by requiring corporations or unions to get permission from their shareholders or members before they can spend money on elections.

In Citizens United vs. FEC, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the government could not bar the conservative group Citizens United from distributing a movie critical of Hillary Rodham Clinton on local cable systems during the 2008 presidential campaign, when Clinton was a candidate. That overturned parts of a 63-year-old law prohibiting companies and unions from using their general treasuries to produce and run campaign ads urging the election or defeat of particular candidates.

That means that November's elections for federal and state office -- including crucial races for legislative seats that will determine who redraws congressional districts after the 2010 Census -- could see a huge influx of special-interest money.