A Senate Majority for a Lump of Coal
Word is that Joe Manchin, the newly-elected Democratic senator from West Virginia, is mulling over a party switch.
He ran as a conservative -- and is in fact probably seriously to the right of Mike Castle, the Republican congressman who lost to Christine O'Donnell in the Delaware primary -- but everyone isn't convinced he's all that conservative.
Still, it's interesting horse-trading. From The Atlantic Wire:
Joe Manchin is still a West Virginia Democrat. But he may not be one for very much longer. Fox News's Chris Stirewalt reports that Republicans are pushing hard to lure him to the other side of the aisle, where his political views may be a good fit and—more importantly—where he can get support for his pet project: a coal-to-diesel fuel plant. Apparently stalled under Democratic leadership, the plant would be "big money for the state's coal producers" and could be just enough to tempt him to join the Grand Old Party. Manchin's team, for now, has said that if his own party isn't "receptive" to his platform, then it may leave "possibilities" open. Republicans currently need three Senators to cross over to reach a 50-50 deadlock.
But there's another way to look at this:
Remember: In a GOP Tidal Wave He Was Elected as a Democrat, and that is no tiny feat, notes James Joyner at Outside thrae Beltway. "While I certainly don’t blame the Republicans for trying, a party switch on Manchin’s part would be unseemly at best. His state’s voters just elected him as a Democrat, in what was a Republican wave election nationally. In my ideal world, all politicians contemplating a switch would hold themselves to the Phil Gramm standard and resign their seats and run for re-election as a member of the other party."
I agree. The guy was elected as a Democrat. He should stay a Democrat. Coal plant or no.
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Comments :
Jul '10
Re: A Senate Majority for a Lump of Coal
Agreed. And it is far too early to a just-elected democrat to be thinking of jumping. There's a lot of leadership issues that have to shake out with the newly minority party. Who's to say he would be a bad fit for the democrats in the 112th Congress?
If he's going to switch, establish a history of public, substantial disagreements with the party leadership first. Otherwise, he's an opportunist, and we just purged some of those.
May '10
Re: A Senate Majority for a Lump of Coal
I agree also. If he wants to demonstrate his conservatism he can vote along with the Republicans on some key issues, or take the Lieberman approach and declare himself independent for two years. Since he has to run again in 2012, he has an opportunity to put himself before the voters as a Republican then.
To switch right after an election seems dishonest.
Jun '10
Re: A Senate Majority for a Lump of Coal
I hate to say "Me too," but ... me too. It's not even clear to me why he'd switch.
Jul '10
Re: A Senate Majority for a Lump of Coal
If he believes he can best serve his state by switching, and his constituency is of like mind, then the more the merrier. The Dems have been smacking coal and fossil fuel states around pretty hard of late, I'm surprised it has taken this long for such a development.
Jul '10
Re: A Senate Majority for a Lump of Coal
A turncoat is a turncoat, even if they're turning your way. There's few things I value above loyalty and I don't think there's any way to seem more politically craven than to switch parties in order to make an upcoming election easier. Beyond that, I think not taking the Senate is going to be a blessing in disguise for the GOP in regards to 2012. If Obama had to deal with a full opposition Congress, he might actually HAVE to re-evaluate his strategy and even make a few compromises while we'd have to hope two men--Majority Leader and Speaker--could keep it together to seem calm, rational, and reasonable while being painted every day as obstructionists. Now we only have to hope one can do that, and all the evidence seems to indicate that he can. A 50-50 split isn't likely to help us any more than the current situation.
May '10
Re: A Senate Majority for a Lump of Coal
I agree that he should not switch, and he, of course, will not- this is just pressure being applied for his program.
The best switch I ever saw was by Norm Coleman, when he was mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota. He sat down and called a bunch of people, then called all the primary reporters, then made an announcement, then ran for re-election a few months later as a Republican. He raised all of his campaign money after the switch.
Manchin is right, though, about the coal-to-liquid (CTL) plant. The Republicans should pass the Open Fuel Standards Act, and push to streamline approval processes for both methanol and diesel CTL plants, and then help set them up in both West Virginia and SW Pennsylvania. And as Steven Hayward and Breakthrough suggest, commit DoD to buying a certain level of diesel from them.
Aug '10
Re: A Senate Majority for a Lump of Coal
Some great points made above. And I agree, it would seem "turncoat" to switch. But I couldn't help but wonder during the campaign - "Why, exactly, is this guy running as a Democrat?" He sure didn't campaign like one. In fact, he made a lot of effort to look and sound like a Republican.
Maybe it's a West Virginia thing. I never understood the infatuation with Senator Byrd, so I'm probably missing a crucial clue here.