EDITORIAL: Raese Starts to Close the Gap
A new Rasmussen Poll shows significant improvement in Republican John Raese's campaign for U.S. Senate against Governor Joe Manchin. The poll, taken one day after Raese's special primary election victory last Saturday showed Raese cutting ten points off of Manchin's prior lead, tightening the race to 48%-42%. That is a remarkable bit of progress for Raese, a Morgantown businessman with interests in limestone, steel, media, and tourism.
For some perspective, understand that Raese has cut Manchin's lead by ten percentage points in just one month, closing the gap to within single digits--all before the traditional start of the general election season on Labor Day. And nationally-known political consultant Dick Morris says that, when an incumbent is under 50% by Labor Day, the undecideds tend to break towards the challenger, in this case John Raese.
While Manchin is not an incumbent U.S. Senator, he's close to that as the current Governor.
The poll also showed that only 29% of those polled approved of the performance of President Barack Obama--a key factor in this race for the U.S. Senate.
The poll was of 500 likely West Virginia voters with a 4.5% margin of error. Rasmussen is one of the more respected polling firms in the country.
So what accounts for Raese's dramatic progress following his primary election victory?
"We knew this race would tighten up," said Raese campaign manager Jim Dornan. "Obviously, the voters are responding in a very positive way to John's message of repealing Obamacare, improving this Administration's disastrous economy, and working to lower taxes." Sounds credible. All national polls indicate that these are the reasons Republicans are doing so well nationally right now.
What is shaping up for West Virginians this fall is really a classic contest between the overarching themes of modern Democratic and Republican parties. Under the leadership of President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Senate President Harry Reid, the Democrats have pursued the ultimate activist federal government agenda. have done exactly what they promise to do when they get into power.
The national Democratic Party, with the full approval and support of West Virginia's Democratic Congressional Delegation and Governor Manchin, have pursued the largest government takeover of health care in our nation's history. They have also pursued exceedingly costly stimulus packages to jumpstart the economy with little positive results.
These Democratic leaders suffer from the hubris of thinking that the government can solve all of our ills. They forget the wisdom of President Ronald Reagan, who noted so well that, sometimes, government isn't the answer to the problem. Sometimes, government is the problem.
Small wonder then that John Raese's consistent themes of repealing Obamacare, lowering taxes, and seeking private sector solutions to our job crisis are so appealing across political lines during this U.S. Senate race. We've tried the Democrats' costly and ineffective approach to solving these serious issues. Why not try solutions like those advanced by Raese, with its emphasis on less government, not more?
Governor Manchin appears to have bought into the national Democrats' agenda of creating more government solutions for our problems. John Raese represents the other side of the coin that calls on each of us to ask our government to back off and let America's entrepreneurs do their thing: creating good jobs the natural way, the traditional way.
The only way.
When the federal government will quit treating our small businesses and entrepreneurs like opponents instead of the best friends our economy has, we'll get out of this recession much sooner. That's the message that John Raese has advocated his entire political life, which is what gives his candidacy such credibility this year.