Posted on 05/07/2018 12:54:09 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
Internal Republican polls show ex-coal CEO and former convict Don Blankenship in the lead a day before West Virginia’s Republican Senate primary, prompting more GOP fears about a Blankenship surge.
SNIP
Some Republicans worry Blankenship’s controversial past could jeopardize their chances at unseating Manchin.
In a last-ditch effort to suppress Blankenship, Trump on Monday urged voters to reject the former coal executive and instead vote for either Jenkins or Morrisey on Tuesday.
“To the great people of West Virginia we have, together, a really great chance to keep making a big difference,” the president wrote on Twitter.
“Problem is, Don Blankenship, currently running for Senate, can’t win the General Election in your State...No way! Remember Alabama. Vote Rep. Jenkins or A.G. Morrisey!”
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
If I were voting I would ask myself which of the three is more likely to support Trump.
That's exactly the question that should have been front and center with the Roy Moore election.
I have been to West Virginia and current polling indicates that Blankenship can win.
See Lurkinanloomin part one post. Better yet here it is at the time Blankenship clears his name.
I watched part of that video. The man says the explosion happened 8 hours after Government inspectors cut the Airflow in half. He said the mine had been operating for 17 years without an explosion, and once the government inspectors cut the airflow, *that* is what caused the explosion.
Is this true? This sounds like something government and especially the Idiot Obama government would pull.
Trump is justifiably concerned. He can’t have a repeat of Roy Moore.
There is no means of stopping liberal kooks from making unprovable accusations against someone. What could have been stopped was efforts by Republican party office holders (Richard Shelby, Jeff Flake et al) from stabbing Moore in the back.
Part of what destroyed Moore is the party behaving as if they accepted the accusations as true. Had they either done nothing, or said the whole thing was bullsh*t and they weren't going along with it, Moore would have won.
I see where you are going with this.
We took OH, PA and MI by getting Union workers to see that the GOP doesn’t hate them and we got back some Regan Democrats.
We need to keep this path open as we will need their support again.
Blankenship would most likely fracture the Union support and we could easily loose a very winnable State.
Turtle is not long for this world and he is going to loose LOTS of support once McCain is gone.
This I believe. Anyone who they can't control or who won't come to terms with the existing crony oriented system, will be destroyed.
That's exactly the question that should have been front and center with the Roy Moore election.
It was. Mo Brooks was probably the best choice, but Roy Moore was a good choice.
I just watched that debate. And I can understand by Blankenship may be surging. And if I lived in WV, I would cast my vote for Blankenship.
Jenkins is worthless and would be another Shelley Moore Capito.
Morrissey would be a good senator, but was always trying to get back to his talking points. And I don’t know why he wouldn’t say who he voted for in the WV primary. There were only three candidates, Trump, Cruz and Kasich. Did he vote for Kasich, if he did, there goes his conservatism.
Blankenship was the only straight shooter, and that has a lot of appeal of late. I don’t believe the crap that he wouldn’t beat Manchin. But the Establishment would MAKE that happen, to continue their “never elect a conservative, they’re too crazy” narrative.
We’ll see what happens tomorrow.
We need to keep this path open as we will need their support again. Blankenship would most likely fracture the Union support and we could easily loose a very winnable State.
This concept may have some merit to it.
He also said they (govt prosecutors) offered him a plea deal which he refused. They wanted him to plea that it was the workers’ fault, and he wouldn’t do it.
The above says the man has more integrity than most people, he would sacrifice himself before letting others suffer.
I wish him luck.
How did he clear his name?
He spent a year in prison and the 4th Circuit and the USSC rejected his appeal.
The conviction stands.
Agree completely.
I suspect he voted for Cruz and did not want to revisit the primary acrimony and particularly the convention speech.
It obviously wasn’t Trump.
As you say, if Kasick, he’s a fraud.
It indicates that he can win the Republican primary if the other two candidates split the vote.
Have you seen any statewide polling of him vs. Manchin?
The voters believe he was railroaded by the Obama prosecution.
He beat the ludicrous felony charges against him and was convicted of a fake misdemeanor when he refused to plea bargain that the explosion was the fault of the miners. He refused to save his hide by letting the miners take the rap. That’s honesty and integrity.
His misdemeanor conviction remains on the court docket but is cleared in the minds of the voters.
Those that hate him are democrats. WVA has democrats that will lie and curse at anything that’s not part of their traitor party. Democrats are all about corruption. Blankenship threatens their gravy train.
A misdemeanor conviction does not disqualify Blankenship from serving in the US Senate.
I have already posted twice that he has an uphill battle against the democrat machine and McConnell’s treachery. But others say WVA voters are woke.
The other two, Morrisey and Jenkins? Not a chance. The seat depends on Blankenship and his bonding with WVA voters. They like his honesty.
Here’s the real Blankenship:
https://youtu.be/X8xu547cxGo?t=175
Ah, I see.
Manchin has won 5 statewide elections.
He won't even break a sweat if Blankenship is the candidate.
> “He won’t even break a sweat if Blankenship is the candidate.”
That could very well be true. But the others, Morrisey and Jenkins, are very weak.
That said, Blankenship presents well, very well, and voters can see that the smears against him are just that, smears.
He will need lots of funds to get his true persona in front of the voters and McConnell is going to stiff him.
So it’s not looking good for the GOP in WVA.
We will see if Blakenship can continue to gather support among voters. After watching the debate I can see why the GOP voters have put him in the lead. But he has a long way to go to the general.
I am surprised he has got this far. It’s a testament to his ability to redeem himself in the face of adversity. When I first saw the reviews of him and his conviction, I thought the worst. After seeing the real him in the debate, I changed. I am sure that’s an accurate reflection of what’s happening on the ground in WVA.
Republicans are definitely the stupid party.
Not sure some of these come out no where and going no where bombastic losers like Blankenship aren’t Democrat plants only running to disrupt the GOP primary.
Seeing a lot of self proclaimed “Conservative” candidates in just about every state who scream bile at everyone else but are curiously silent about what they would do in office.
Clay Tippen in GA is another one of these bombastic blowhards that wants to throw punches at everyone but only talks in very vague generalities when you ask them what, if anything, they would do in office.
Voters beware, not everyone running is what they claim to be.
I didn’t see Blankenship as any sort of blowhard, far from it. I saw a polite, restrained, articulate man who had facts, figures, knowledge, experience at his fingertips with articulate responses and pivoting to what he would do as US Senator. He was well poised, in control, serious and somber. His principles were solid.
Jenkins and Morrisey seemed closer to blowhards.
Blankenship did hurl a blow at McConnell but he did it in a soft-spoken matter of fact way. And everything he said about McConnell was on the mark, 100% accurate.
He pointed out the hypocrisy of his opponents and again he did it with a soft-spoken demeanor.
I don’t know that he will win. I do think strongly the others will lose against Manchin.
https://youtu.be/X8xu547cxGo?t=175
That's what I'm concerned about.
An honest media would research the political machine behind candidates.
The Liberal Media Complex likes when they can cover the 'racist' candidates that are the perfect conservative stereotype.
Moore was twice removed from office forcibly for unethical behavior and using a judicial position for pure vanity politics. He had serious baggage even without those accusations. He would have continued the same behavior in the Senate with the vanity politics and undermined everything just to draw attention to himself if history was any guide and obviously someone with that history isn’t the best candidate to present to the voters...and the results proved that to be correct. Either Brooks or Strange would have easily held the seat in a landslide. Now it is a liberal Democrat seat.
Manchin is poised to lose in a landslide - so why nominate the only candidate that could allow him to keep the seat in Dem hands? How does that make a bit of sense?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.