John Raese was a native son running against carpetbagger Rockefeller in 1984, and they favored Jay (of course, that was $$). Byrd, BTW, wasn’t even a Byrd. The Byrds of Virginia were bonafide royalty, being actual descendants of Pocahontas. He was White trash from North Wilkesboro, NC, named Cornelius Calvin Sale, Jr.
Manchin is going down this time. His playing both sides has gotten old, and WV has smartened up to the games of the Democrats and chucked them like a bad habit.
yes I know all this!
I was raised in WV.
My family was no fan of Byrd. My late father was on the GOP state executive committee from when I was in elementary school until I left the state for college. In those days you could almost fit the WV GOP’ers in my late parent’s living room! (In those days my brother always referred to the wv gop in small letters because it was too poor, too small, too disorganized for capital letters!) We were very aware of Byrd’s false pretensions. My family knew John Raese very well. I met him a couple of times.
I would like to see Manchin lose but I don’t think he will. I just don’t think Morrissey is the right candidate to do it. I think the “out-of-state-professional-politician-in-WV-to-have-a-political-career” card (and yes that card only works against GOP’ers!) will be played & played effectively against Morrissey. I think Jenkins would have been a better choice.
PS True Story: Once I was taking my father & mother on a tour of the Green Bank Observatory. My dad started to get out of the van and saw that the Radio telescope was named after Byrd. He refused to get out of the van! Finally after some pleading and my mother scolding him. He got out and we finished the tour all the while him grumbling under his breath “That SOB Byrd wouldn’t understand the first principles of how that thing worked and here they name it after him!”
Love my parents, in many ways they were a hoot! & I miss them!