Posted on 09/09/2005 4:02:30 AM PDT by nj26
If the 2006 United States Senate election were held right now, incumbent Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., likely would win in a race against potential opponent U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va. according to a poll recently released by Charleston-based RMS Strategies.
Byrd, 87, was expected to announce his plans this week to run for a record ninth consecutive term, but he decided to delay his announcement because of recovery efforts from Hurricane Katrina, as well as the funeral for U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist, which was scheduled for Sept. 7.
According to the poll, about 55 percent of registered voters in West Virginia said they would support Byrd in the election. Only 39 percent said they would support Capito.
Poll respondents also had a higher opinion of Byrd than Capito and gave the senior senator higher job approval ratings than the congresswoman. According to the poll, 72 percent of residents have a favorable opinion of Byrd, while 58 percent have a favorable opinion of Capito.
In a separate question, 63 percent of residents said they approve of the job Capito is going in Congress as opposed to Byrd, who had a 75 percent approval rating.
The elected leader with the highest job approval rating was West Virginia's junior senator, Jay Rockefeller. About 81 percent of residents said they strongly approved of the job the Democrat was doing in Washington, and 80 percent said they had a favorable opinion of him.
(Excerpt) Read more at statejournal.com ...
How can any sane person vote for such an absurd POS like Byrd? Do they really think about it?
With all the funerals in Washington lately maybe Byrd will end up going to one last one in the not too distant future. How does a state that voted GOP in the last two elections keep reelecting this addled old fart!
He is 87!!!!
From his website:
In May 2001, Senator Byrd received what he considers his greatest honor when Governor Bob Wise and both Houses of the West Virginia Legislature named him "West Virginian of the 20th Century." In 2000, West Virginia voters elected Senator Byrd to an eighth consecutive six-year term in the U.S. Senate. Senator Byrd has carried all 55 West Virginia counties several times, and, impressively, in his most recent general election in the year 2000, he carried all but seven of the state's 1,970 precincts. He also has cast more votes than any other Senator in the history of the Republic, having cast more than 17,500 votes in his Senate career.
He is so loved by the political machine, the unionists & the unemployed that he will still be re-elected after he is dead
That happened years ago.
You know he is about the only thing that makes me ashamed to call myself a West Virginian.
He keeps federal money rolling hand over fist into West Virginia. If you ever drive through the state, you'll see that everything has his name on it. He even saw to it that the FBI set up its state-of-the-art finger print analysis center in Clarksburg.
It is well known that inbreeding, common in the state, causes mental retardation.
That senile old bastard? unbelievable!
When Byrd passes on, will the democrats burn crosses and lynch some blacks to honor his memory?
Just here in Martinsburg, there are two IRS centers, one smaller processing unit, and a larger regional training, and oversight section. Next to them, is the COAST Guard communications center.
I-81 is on its third redo, from VA to MD, in three years, and Rt 9 is being 4 laned, as we type.
Corridor H is being built south of Winchester, VA and will connect the center part of WV with the Interstate network. The plans are to get more of the Fedrool Gumt agencies/people moved out that way.
Shelly is going to be the first WV Republican Senator, but I don't think she can beat him, if he runs. She WILL get my vote...
I saw Sen. Byrd in the McLean Giant last Saturday. (He and his wife have shopped there for years.)
The man is very, very old, and can barely stand up. While I understand the will not to get in a wheelchair (my father had several bad falls before he gave in), this man cannot campaign as he is now. They can drive him to a few sites in a day, and have him do 2 minutes of "stand up"; (sorry), but that's all he can do. And that is now. Not a year from now. He will be worse off. It could be that when his old fans see him, they may want him to retire out of kindness. At any rate, the polls now are name recognition and reputation. When folks see him in person, it may change a lot.
I understand that he "brought home the pork". Few believe that will happen again. I understand loyalty in voting.
I've just seen youngsters visting the old folks homes (sorry, "retirement communities") and working hard beat solid but tired old-timers more than a few times.
Jerry West :o)
FYI, Byrd is a native of North Carolina. His adoptive parents were from WV, and moved him here as a child. So much for the inbreeding. I’ve traveled the world over during a Naval career, and the inbreeding here isn’t any more prevalent then other places I’ve been. It’s actually less prevalent than some places (European Royalty, i.e.) I’ve seen.
Our other senator is a carpetbagger also...Rockefeller is from New York.
I myself am a transplant from Pennsylvania. Down here I get two more weeks of spring and two more weeks of fall and 4 - 6 less feet of snow a year.
I hope Byrd reconsiders and goes into a past-due retirement. Here in the northern part of the state most folks I speak with think he has become an embarrassment. I don't know where they took their poll - probably in the very heavy Democrat southern part of the state - but I don't believe their numbers.
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