EDITORIAL: Thousands of Early Voters in Special Election May Prove Manchin Wrong
West Virginians haven't had a new, permanent U.S. Senator since 1985, when Jay Rockefeller
replaced longtime U.S.Senator Jennings Randolph. Despite Rockefeller's universal name
recognition, his overwhelming Democratic voter registration advantage, and the gross
expenditure of $12 million against his opponent, John Raese, Rockefeller barely nipped
Raese in that contest.
The 1984 U.S. Senate race was perhaps the first clue in a long line of others since then that West Virginians were getting restless for other choices than what the Democratic Party offered them, year after year. West Virginians aren't dumb. We can look around and see when things simply aren't going right across our state, especially during a protracted recession.
A quarter of a century later, history may be repeating itself. We're in the middle of another protracted recession, the candidate the Democrats are likely to give us for their U.S. Senate nominee, is another incumbent Governor, just like Rockefeller in 1984. Governor Manchin presided over the second highest increase in unemployment in 2009 in any state in the fifty United States.
Yet the press keeps insisting, just as they did with Rockefeller in 1984, that Manchin remains popular. Funny, but we don't hear that anymore out there. People wonder why a Governor who says he's so dedicated to working West Virginians would leave his post midstream as Governor with so much work left to do. Manchin increasingly looks like a man possessed by personal ambition who just wants to get out of town before more bad economic stats during his administration hit the fan.
All this may explain why over 6,000 West Virginians have already participated--on just the first day--in Early Voting for the special election to fill the unexpired U.S. Senate seat up for grabs this year. Despite Joe Manchin's best efforts to set up this hurry up special election to his best advantage, word is getting around: vote now for the real candidate of your choice in the August 28th special election primary for U.S. Senate.
Of course, we don't know who these early voters have voted for and won't have any results until next Saturday, August 28th. Then the party nominees will have an additional two month sprint to the general election on Tuesday, November 2nd.
However, the fact that this many voters across West Virginia have voted at the first available opportunity proves that interest is up regarding the U.S. Senate race. That's good news for challengers and the body politic as a whole.
And it may be potentially bad news for Governor Manchin, who was no doubt hoping through this hurry up special election that most voters wouldn't even take notice or would be too confused about the balloting process to care.
This time, the voters of West Virginia will not have their voice silenced.