Various news organizations are reporting that former West Virginia Congressman and Secretary of State Ken Hechler has filed to run in the Democratic primary against Gov. Joe Manchin for the Senate seat opened by the death of Sen. Robert C. Byrd.
I first saw the news via my buddy Hoppy Kerchevals’s Twitter feed on MetroNews, and I see now that the Daily Mail has s short story on Hechler’s move:
“I don’t want to make it a campaign against Gov. Manchin,” Hechler said this morning, speaking on the phone from New York, where he is doing a series of public lectures. “I want to make it about mountaintop removal. A vote for me is not a vote for Ken Hechler — it’s tantamount to a vote against mountaintop removal.”
Updated:
Here’s a link to a Gazette story on Hechler’s candidacy.
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Finally the election you have been waiting for Ken, a statewide race where pro MTR and anti MTR face off. Let’s see how true it is that the majority of people in WV are against MTR as you have blogged about many times. If you are right, looks like a cake walk for Mr. Hechler…my guess is he gets less than 20% of the vote in his own party.
Concerned miner,
It should be interesting … Gov. Manchin’s numbers show he is very popular, and he’s been working toward this Senate run for a long time. Remember that it’s a very short election cycle, though — so who knows what that means.
I’m not sure a win for Gov. Manchin disproves the consistent public opinion polls that show most West Virginians don’t like mountaintop removal, though. And if we had referendum, and had a vote on that, it would likely be such an ugly, costly, election, that I’m not sure it would tell us much.
Ken.
I think Manchin’s response is going to be, Ken who? The Democratic Party will ignore Mr. Hechler, sad to say, but at least there will be SOME choice when we go to the polls in August.
Ken
I agree, just poking a little fun. I don’t think it is fair to the anti MTR side of this issue for him to say he wants it to be about MTR. I respect Mr. Hechler for his years of service to the state, but would think most people would not want to send a 95 year old man to be a freshman senator, regardless of his views on MTR.
Fyi:
http://thepoliticalenvironment.blogspot.com/2010/07/ken-hechler-back-in-campaign-mode-read.html
Bravo Ken Hechler. At first, I thought we had the WV GODFATHER facing off against the 21st century version of Huey Long, i.e. THE QUEENFISH.In GODFATHER II, Michael Corleone moved his “Consigliaro” to protect the gaming empire from the State of Nevada. Manchin raised his “Consigliaro” to interim US Senator poised for a run at the 2nd District Congressional seat.
Huey Long, THE KINGFISH, served as both Senator and Governor of Louisiana. The WV legislature set Capito up to seek both the 2nd District Seat and the vacant Senate seat. The big difference is that had Capito sought and won both, the travel from one side of the Hill to the other would have been easier to manage.
The WV Legislature, and the Republican Minority in particular, should be ashamed of themselves for bringing on yet another blackeye for our state.
Yours truly, JOHNNY DOLLAR