Rockefeller challenger going it alone(FReeper)Jay Wolfe fighting for seat without support from Party

The Charleston Daily Mail ^ | 10-15-02 | Mike Connolly

[EternalVigilance]

Mike Connolly Daily Mail Staff

Tuesday October 15, 2002; 11:00 AM

Not even the Republican Senatorial Committee thinks Jay Wolfe can unseat incumbent Democrat Jay Rockefeller in the West Virginia Senate race.

The committee can give Wolfe, 47, up to $202,000 to help his campaign. So far, they haven't given him a dime and the election is only three weeks away.

But Wolfe isn't complaining too much. He knows he is a long shot to beat Rockefeller.

"I guess I understand it," Wolfe said about the committee. "When I got into it, I didn't ask them if I should. I really didn't expect them to help me much."

So the Wolf Summit resident will try to beat an incumbent three-term senator from one of the wealthiest families in America with $100,000 and almost no name recognition.

But Wolfe is confident. He's challenged some tough politicians before and even won once.

With no money from the state Republican committee, Wolfe beat 14-year Legislature veteran Gino Colombo in 1986 to win a seat in the state Senate.

Two years later he ran against Sen. Robert Byrd for a seat in the U.S. Senate and lost by a considerable margin.

"Most people don't even remember that I ran," Wolfe said, but he also reminded the Daily Mail's editorial board Monday that he got 35 percent of the vote against Byrd -- which is better than most people can do against West Virginia's senior senator.

This year, even as his own party dismisses him as running a lost cause, Wolfe is confident he can win. Wolfe says that Rockefeller's assumed easy victory is the exact reason he will pull off an upset. He is concentrating his efforts on getting state Republicans out to vote.

He hopes that Democrats, certain of a Rockefeller victory, will stay home Nov. 5.

"The conventional wisdom says Rockefeller will win," he said. "I don't think he is nearly as well loved as Robert Byrd is. I think he is vulnerable."

A key plank in Wolfe's plan is pointing out how different he is than Rockefeller. He calls Rockefeller "a typical tax-and-spend liberal." Wolfe, a Baptist deacon at Clarksburg Baptist Church, is a fiscal and social conservative.

"Government needs to do as much as possible to get out of people's lives," Wolfe said.

He is staunchly pro-life, opposes the "radical homosexual agenda" and wants to take funding away from museums and theater groups that produce "pornography."

"I believe there is a war in this country right now over morals," Wolfe said.

When it comes to taxes, Wolfe has a plan to radically revamp the federal tax system.

If Wolfe were elected, he would work to abolish all federal income taxes including Social Security and Medicare deductions. To replace the tax base, he would create a national retail sales tax somewhere between 20 percent and 30 percent. Wolfe claims his plan would be revenue neutral and would stimulate the American economy.

"It would help our industrial base," Wolfe said. "We could become again the industrial giant that we used to be."

Wolfe also supports President Bush's plan for a war in Iraq, has the backing of the NRA when it comes to gun control and wants to cut taxes.

He is very clear about what he wants to do. Now all he has to do is pull off a seemingly impossible upset. But recent history seems to favor a Republican underdog in West Virginia.

"Nobody gave Bush a chance to win in this state in 2000 either," Wolfe said with a smile.

Writer Mike Connolly can be reached at 348-4806

[EternalVigilance]

The phone calls can start right now. I'm sorry if the grassroots over there is complacent...how can we stir them to action?

A large number of counties are doing their own print advertising projects...like RFP was talking about above. I haven't heard the plan from your county...but when I do, I'll do what I can to assist.

[EternalVigilance]

Way to go!

Time to start looking ahead to who can and will be your Republican U.S. Senators in the future. Am I right?

[rb22982]

Sounds like a good investment. $25 from a poor college student in hopes for an upset in WV.

[Tunehead54]

Time to start looking ahead to who can and will be your Republican U.S. Senators in the future. Am I right?

---

Right! White knight needed - apply soonest!

[WVNan]

There were no signs at all out until this past Saturday, and then they are way out in the boonies where nobody lives and very few around P.P. I've told you before that whatever I do has to be on the Q.T. If I get caught actively campaigning I will be defrocked. I think I can get away with the phone calls by using my middle name and calling people who don't know me. I need the talking points though. I just sent $25 to the link above. I really would like for it to be used to help put an ad in our local paper. If I had the money I would run the ad myself, but I just don't have it. If I could get some more signs I would slip around and put them up, but I have been told that the signs are all gone.

[WVNan]

Well, moving this thread to campaign 2002 will probably kill it.

[EternalVigilance]

Yeah, I'm afraid you're right.

[WFTR]

Is there any chance that some national conservative group would be willing to help the campaign? Have you considered asking National Right to Life to sponsor a mailing or just providing a voter guide on pro-life issues? If there were some Right to Life chapters in West Virginia that could put the guides on cars at churches or similar places, it would give you some quick, positive exposure at a very low cost. Are there any gospel singers with strong ties to the pro-life movement who would consider giving a free concert? Are there any gospel concerts where you would be allowed to set up a booth and give palm cards? Are you allowed to give literature at high school football games? Maybe none of this is helpful, but these are a few ideas for low-budget campaigning.

WFTR
Bill

[RJayneJ]

I always believed that he more or less bought his seat from Byrd. He and his wife went in and began a program of selling home crafts made by the folks that lived in the mountains. Shortly thereafter I recall that they liked the mountains so much that they decided to live there, (although they didn't give up their New York apartment). Suddenly, it just occurred to Rockefeller that he just might like to run for the senate with Byrd's endorsement -- he couldn't lose. And, it's always easier for the filthy rich to run as a Democrat so they can champion the plight of the poor.

[EternalVigilance]

Great ideas...and most of them are already in full play.

All of the Right to Life groups have endorsed Jay Wolfe, and are making a great effort to get the message out to their constituency, mainly by mail, but also personally---they are some of our best stalwart volunteers out in the precincts.

Most of the literature distribution is our 'Jay vs Jay' piece. It is VERY effective, and is being passed out in churches, at ball games, at parades and festivals...basically everywhere that crowds gather.

This is the reason I have hope for a miracle finish on November 5th...the quality of the Wolfe people is extraordinary, and our message has traction.

[calawah98]

Will they take credit card donations at the above telephone number? If so I can call an donate a hundred, and he will have it right away, sounds like he could use the advertising. Good Luck Jay

[EternalVigilance]

Well, first he held an executive position (secretary of state, I think)...then he ran for Governor, as a Republican no less, and lost!

Then he did a party switch to Dem, ran for Governor again and won. He held the governorship for 8 years, and has been Senator for 18.

[fatima]

That is a big bump.

[EternalVigilance]

You have mail.

[Gunder]

No doubt. I'm a writer and an actor, but I'm absolutely opposed to the N.E.A. Funding art classes in schools in one thing, but picking and choosing certain projects that are worth of funding is just ridiculous.

[Gunder]

Sorry, that should be WORTHY of funding. (I am a writer, really!)

[EternalVigilance]

He held the governorship for 8 years, and has been Senator for 18.

And yet, WV remains DEAD LAST in family income!

That message has ben very effective with Democrats...they even have the sense that change is needed. 'He's been there too long' may sound simplistic, but sometimes it is the simplest messages that work the best...especially if it plays off of what people are already thinking and saying.

That's why the 'It's time for a new Jay in West Virginia!' theme has such resonance.

[EternalVigilance]

...picking and choosing certain projects that are worth of funding is just ridiculous.

It is. I can't find it anywhere in the enumerated powers.

Guess they must be misusing the general welfare clause again. ;-)

[calawah98]

you have mail

[Gelato]

Good to hear our FReeper friend is getting noticed.

Big bump!