Richie has won re-election as Mayor of South Charleston for a slew of terms and has performed miracles for the city financally and in terms of growth. For that he gets kudos, but he has always been a bit loopy on most conservative issues. He's a very likeable guy and most have been willing to overlook a lot.
I was born and raised in SC and now live across the river. My sister graduated with Ritchie. My dad and Richie's dad were very active in Republican party politics back when being a R in WV was dangerous to your health. They were great friends. Leonard Robb is rolling in his grave today over his son's actions on Labor Day.
I think that even the faithful are turned off by this stunt. Stating he may not vote for Bush is one thing, but hand-in-hand with Jessie is the death knell.
Thanks for the reply on WV/SC politics: should've known there was no relation to the early/mid 60s Dem subdynasty of Johnson/Robb---a Dem family with that much heavy baggage would probably never allow itself to be in a position to draw that much attention to itself. But the guy still does look like he's in the Jeffords/Zell Miller tradition of party=changers, who always draw attention to the degree that they might be important in majority decisions.