West Virginia Governor Announces He's Running To Replace The Late Exalted Cyclopes, Robert Byrd And Other Senate Race Stuff

Governor Joe Manchin says he's running in the election he didn't want to hold but will since he was kind of forced to.

Apparently the best hope for the Republicans in this race would be Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito who blasted the temporary appointment of Mancin aide Carte Goodwin to temporarily fill the seat.

"Based on the person chosen from the rumored field of candidates to fill the U.S. Senate vacancy on an interim basis, it is once again evident that political ambition was the key factor in the selection," Capito said in a statement.

"Governor Manchin followed the same path as Florida Governor Charlie Crist did last August when he appointed his former staffer for the sole purpose of protecting his own desire to run for the U.S. Senate seat."

Goodwin was sworn in today and will provide the 60th vote to pass another unemployment insurance extension (thanks to the Maine sisters help).

While Capito is the best hope the Republicans have in W. Virginia it's not clear if she'll run because she'd have to give up her House seat to wage what, at this point, looks like a losing battle against Manchin.

In other Senate election news...take a look at the RCP Senate board. Of the 23 seats being contested this year, only 4 are likely or leaning Democratic. 10 are rated as toss-ups and the rest are likely or leaning Republican.

Unfortunately, there's some bad news for the GOP in the most recent polling.

Sharron Angle appears to be steadily losing ground to Harry Reid. It's obviously way too early to write this off but she appears to be getting very little traction with independents. You can beat them all you want but they get too vote and few candidates win without a healthy chuck of them.

Angle's unfavorable rating, meanwhile, jumped by double digits -- from 25 percent in early June to 43 percent now -- while her favorable rating is now 33 percent compared with 38 percent last month.

"I was surprised how quickly and how effectively the Reid campaign came out against her after the primary," said Eric Herzik, political science professor at the University of Nevada, Reno. "I think Angle got caught off guard. Harry Reid didn't give her any breathing time, so she got defined as 'wacky Sharron.' "

As a result, Angle lost support across the board in July compared with early June:

■ Among men, Angle fell from 50 percent support to 41 percent now.

■ Among women, 38 percent to 33 percent.

■ Among Democrats, 12 percent to 8 percent.

■ Among Republicans, 81 percent to 70 percent.

■ Among independents, 41 percent to 35 percent.

An 11 percent drop with Republicans? That's either an outlier or she's likely doomed.

Giving some hope on the outlier front, left leaning PPP has a poll out today showing Angle "only" down by 2 to Reid.

The most loathsome candidate, Charlie "What do you want me to say to get elected" Crist, is leading the field.

3 months is an eternity in politics and summer habits can skew polls so no need to panic, just keep a healthy respect that nothing is in the bag yet.

On the upside, Boxer, Murray and Feingold look like they are in real fights. God, it would be great to get rid of all 3 of them. Hell, I'm not greedy, getting rid of 2 of 3 would require a pudding dip.

posted by DrewM. at 03:15 PM

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