Free Republic

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Shelley Brannon, 62, can sum up the Obama presidency with three words. Well, three words and an exclamation. “He screwed us,” said Brannon, a coal miner from Wise County, Va., as he sat outside a rally for the United Mine Workers of America. “Man, he screwed us.” He shook his head under a camouflage hat that matched his camouflage UMWA T-shirt, and he described his fantasy of dumping nuclear waste in the yards of environmentalists, “if they think coal’s so bad.” He mulled over the mistake he says the UMWA made in 2008, when it endorsed Barack...

West Virginia University student Saira Blair (R) will become the youngest person to ever serve in the West Virginia state legislature after getting elected Tuesday. Blair, an 18-year-old freshman, was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates from the 59th district after beating her two opponents by a landslide. Blair received more than twice the votes of her main opponent, Democratic Party candidate Layne Dieh. “It was amazing to see that the 59th district had so much faith in me,” Blair said shortly after getting the results. Blair celebrated the victory at Buffalo Wild Wings before heading to...

On the third-to-last day that Senator Frank Lautenberg ever voted in the Senate, he joined with 53 of his colleagues to support a compromise on new gun regulations. His vote wasn't enough. Now, Lautenberg's death makes the prospect of revisiting that issue — and a number of other Democratic priorities — substantially trickier. Take the gun legislation. The compromise proposal, which would have expanded background checks to include gun show and online sales, was part of a package that was postponed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid after the failed vote. It's expected to come back before the Senate at...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK) Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Penn., is "confident," he said Sunday on "Face the Nation," that he and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., will be able to muster enough Republican support in the Senate to pass an amendment that would expand background checks for gun purchases. "We're close," said Toomey said, appearing with Manchin. "We're discussing with colleagues on both sides. We've got bipartisan support, but there is bipartisan opposition." Toomey and Manchin, along with Sens. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced last week they had struck the deal, which would expand background checks for gun purchases to all commercial...

Senator Joe Manchin was on FOX News today to discuss his proposed gun control legislation. Joe Manchin admitted his bill will not prevent another Newtown massacre, “This is not a universal background check. This is a criminal and mental background check at gun shows and internet sales. It does not infringe on your right as a family… It protects the rights of our veterans… They (families of Newtown shooting victims) even recognized that this legislation we’re working on, which is the background checks on criminal and mental illness would not have saved their little babies.” Then why are Democrats in...

The Tea Party Patriots organization is planning protests on Tuesday at the home state offices of several Senators that the group argues are in need of an “intervention” for being sucked up into inside-the-Beltway politics, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA). The group is targeting Rubio on immigration reform and Toomey on gun control. “Two Senators in particular are facing Tea Party pressure, as they should--Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Pat Toomey (R-PA),” Tea Party Patriots said in a release. “Both of these men were elected thanks to Tea Party support, yet Senator Rubio is the...

BECKLEY, W.Va. — Talk of stricter gun control has stirred up a lot of unease here, a place where hunters vie for top prize (a 26-inch LED television) in the Big Buck Photo Contest, and ads for a gun-simulator game ask, “Feel like shooting something today?” But before Senator Joe Manchin III invited a group of 15 businessmen and community leaders to lunch last week to discuss the topic, he had only a vague idea of how anxious many of his supporters were. “How many of you all believe that there is a movement to take away the Second Amendment?”...

DEAD possums litter the roads of the southern United States and whenever Bernie Smith encounters another fallen marsupial he pulls over and hurls the corpse into the back of his truck. One man's detritus is another man's feast: cooked slowly with potato, carrot and celery, the meat becomes tender in a rich and spicy stew known as burgoo. Mr Smith, 67, was showing off this traditional technique at the annual Road Kill Cook-Off festival in Marlinton, West Virginia, an isolated town nestled in the Appalachian mountains. Thousands were on hand this weekend to compare his casserole with barbecue squirrel, bear...

With 60-odd percent of the vote counted in West Virginia's Democratic primary, a man named Keith Judd can make a unique claim. He has won a greater proportion of the vote -- almost 40 percent -- than any other primary candidate running against Barack Obama. Who's Keith Judd? He's prisoner #11593-051, currently serving out a sentence for making threats at the University of New Mexico. In 2008, he caused a minor stir for making the Idaho primary ballot, confounding state officials, who thought they had rules preventing that sort of thing. Unbowed, he ran again this year, delivering FEC reports...

From Public Policy Polling: 56% of West Virginians say they will vote for the Republican over Obama in 2 years — 34% are for Obama. That’s a reversal of the 59% Democrat/34% Republican registration in the state. Among Republican candidates the preferences are: Sarah Palin 25% Mike Huckabee 22% Mitt Romney 15% Newt Gingrich 15% Everyone else is under 2% Count me in the 23% who said someone other than those 4 or is undecided. By the way, 37% of Democrats say they will vote for the Republican in 2012.

Having both former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and rock legend Ted Nugent in state over the weekend has created some serious ripples, including one from the Manchin campaign. In response to the overflow crowd of 2,700+ at Charleston's Haddad Riverfront Park for Republican U.S. Senate candidate John Raese this past Saturday, the Manchin staff hastily announced that former President Bill Clinton would return to campaign for Manchin on Monday, this time in Beckley. Still, Raese has one more rabbit to pull from his brown Stetson in the form of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who will campaign with...

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and her husband, Todd, provided a last-minute surprise visit to the Ted Nugent rally for Republican U.S. Senate candidate John Raese in Charleston Saturday afternoon. The crowd present for the event was the largest of any event held by either Raese or Governor Joe Manchin this year. An estimated crowd of 2,700 came out on a clear, sunny October day from across West Virginia and sang the "Star Spangled Banner" with Nugent, the rock legend from the late 70s who has emerged as a leading voice for sportsmen and women across America. The event--part political...

Sarah Palin took to the campaign trail today in a final push before election day, headlining a rally for Republican Senate candidate John Raese. "I'm seeing all these 'mountain mamas and wondering, 'Mountain mamas? Is that anything close to the 'mama grizzlies'?'" the former Alaska governor asked. "I've been traveling a lot of country roads these last few months especially, trying to get people to understand how important it is that we do elect the right people on Nov. 2 to turn this country around," Palin said...

Republican John Raese says former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will be joining rocker Ted Nugent at a weekend rally in Charleston for his U.S. Senate campaign. Raese spokesman Kevin McLaughlin said both Palin and her husband will be at the Saturday afternoon event, slated for Haddad Riverfront Park...

Democratic Governor Joe Manchin has been in overdrive in recent days to distance himself from President Obama and congressional Democrats, and now he’s edged back into a three-point advantage in West Virginia’s U.S. Senate race. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely West Virginia Voters finds Manchin with 49% support to Republican John Raese’s 46%. Two percent (2%) like another candidate in the race, while four percent (4%) remain undecided.

It has been a long time since such a gigantic ego occupied the White House. Think about it: President Barack Obama really seems to believe that if he could just explain himself to more people, they would agree with his ultra-liberal policies. Changing the policies themselves hasn't occurred to him at all. Obama should consider that here in West Virginia, where Democrats have a two-to-one registration edge over Republicans, three very popular Democrats are in trouble. Joe Manchin, one of the most popular governors in our history, is behind in some polls against Republican challenger John Raese. Mike Oliverio, a...

Charleston, West Virginia - Sarah Palin endorsed West Virginia's Republican Senate hopeful John Raese on Twitter this week – but she mistakenly identified him as a candidate in Pennsylvania. (The erroneous tweet was quickly replaced.) Raese, battling Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin in a race most polls suggest is a toss-up, doesn't seem to mind. "I am just honored that Sarah Palin would endorse me," he told CNN Friday. "I know my wife and 1,000 conservative women across West Virginia support her very much. I am just pleased to get that endorsement. GOP candidates running in competitive states and districts this...

Former President Bill Clinton and ex-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin are lining up on opposite sides in West Virginia's Senate race, a key contest that could determine control of the Senate in the November election. Clinton spent Monday in West Virginia, hoping to boost Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin's campaign as it struggles against wealthy Republican businessman John Raese. Meanwhile, former vice-presidential candidate Palin announced she was backing Raese on her Facebook page, hoping to again demonstrate her political clout...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - Whether he likes it or not, President Barack Obama is becoming a spokesman for West Virginia's Republican Party. The GOP is planting 2,500 yard signs across the state starting Wednesday that simply read "Obama Says 'Vote Democrat.'" It's the latest effort by Republicans to tie West Virginia Democrats to a president deemed unpopular in the Mountain State...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- More than 50 employers are expected to participate in a job fair at the University of Charleston on Thursday. The fair will be from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Geary Student Union. Registration will be in the ballroom on the third floor. The fair will be on the second and third floors. Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., will host the event. She is expected to address the participants shortly after 9 a.m. Capito's office said job seekers are invited to come and connect with employers who are hiring or plan to hire in the near...