Shelly Moore Capito Will Not Challenge Manchin for West Virginia Senate

The Pro on her: She's popular, and probably among the few in West Virginia who could beat Joe Manchin.

The Con: She's actually pro-choice, the only pro-choice Rep from West Virginia.

Joe Manchin, on the other hand, is pro-life.

I'm pro-choice myself but the idea of running a pro-choice Republican against a more-popular pro-life Democrat in West Virginia seemed to me to be, what is the word?, friggin' insane.

For one thing: How the hell does she tap into the national conservative donor pool?

How do we run a pro-choice Republican in one of the states where that's a real political loser? (Note: I actually can't find a cite for that and might be guessing wrong. But I am assuming that "more rural" tends to equal "more pro-life" as it usually does.)

Well, thank goodness, Moore Capito will only be running for Representative. (Even after seeking, and getting, a special change in the law allowing her to run for Rep and Senate simultaneously.)

So we need a candidate. Here's a possibility.

John Raese, a Morgantown industrialist and former Republican Party chair who lost to Byrd in 2006, has told reporters he was considering entering the race. The filing deadline is Friday.

Platform seems Tea Party friendly:

The 60-year-old Morgantown businessman told the Charleston Daily Mail he would run on a pro-business, low-tax, low-regulation platform.

Raese unsuccessfully challenged Byrd in 2006 on a similar platform. He says the message resonates more today.

Oh, he lost 64-34, but: That was a Democratic year, 2006, and he was running against an institution. A corrupt, former-klansman institution, but an institution nonetheless. Plus, as a not-seriously-expected-to-win candidate, he'd've gotten no support at all from the party or anyone out of the state (and in fact not too many in the state either -- who wants to donate money to someone guaranteed to lose?).

34% doesn't fill me with joy but it is, I think, understandable.

posted by Ace at 12:00 PM

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