Senate race in W.Va. unexpectedly in play

Washington Times ^ | 9/7/2010 | Andrea Billups

[Qbert]

In what could prove a sleeper race with national implications, some West Virginia Democrats say they are seeing signs that the state's Senate race could be turning into an unexpectedly tough and expensive battle.

While popular Gov. Joe Manchin III, 63, was widely regarded by Democrats as a sure thing to fill the seat long held by Sen. Robert C. Byrd, a new Rasmussen poll released this week showed his Republican challenger, Morgantown business executive John Raese, 60, gaining significant ground.

With polls giving surging Republicans an outside chance of gaining the 10 Senate seats needed to reclaim the majority, an upset in a West Virginia race - a race that has largely been off the national political radar - could prove a critical piece of the puzzle.

A late July poll showed Mr. Manchin outpacing Mr. Raese 51 percent to 35 percent, but a Rasmussen survey of 500 "likely voters" taken a little more than month later found the governor's lead had shrunk to 6 percentage points, shocking many who hadn't considered that the Byrd seat could go to anyone but another well-known Democrat.

Despite a tepid 12 percent turnout in the state's Aug. 28 primary, heightened press attention to the West Virginia Senate battle is sure to buoy the enthusiasm of state voters, political observers say, noting that Republican voters have turned out in far greater percentages than Democrats in this primary cycle.

"Republicans are far more motivated to vote than Democrats right now," said Jennifer Duffy, a senior editor at the Cook Political Report who follows Senate races and said the new Rasmussen poll more than caught her attention.

[CPT Clay]

One word: COAL

[CPT Clay]

LOL me too!

[CPT Clay]

Pray for an early blizzard in WV on Election Day.

It could happen! Their was a blizzard in 2000 that shut down E NM and West Texas.