Democrats meddle in West Virginias GOP Senate primary

[turbinetree]

Source: Politico

A group aims to boost Don Blankenship, a recently imprisoned coal executive.

By ALEX ISENSTADT 04/19/2018 04:23 PM EDT

National Democrats launched a campaign Thursday to intervene in the upcoming West Virginia Senate GOP primary — an effort that could be designed to help recently imprisoned coal baron Don Blankenship win the Republican nomination.

Duty and Country, a Washington-based Super PAC, began airing TV and web ads savaging the two mainstream Republican candidates, Rep. Evan Jenkins and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who are competing in the May 8 primary. Left off the group’s target list, however, was Blankenship, who spent one year in prison following the 2010 explosion at his Upper Big Branch Mine that killed 29 workers.

In propping up Blankenship, the Democratic Party is wading into an intensifying GOP civil war. Republicans are growing increasingly worried about Blankenship, who has been gaining traction in the primary. GOP officials in Washington are concerned that if Blankenship wins the nomination, he’ll ruin the party’s prospects of defeating Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin in November.

Last week, national Republicans launched a super PAC named Mountain Families PAC aimed at stopping Blankenship. The organization, which is staffed by consultants who’ve previously worked for a political group aligned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, has begun airing TV commercials accusing Blankenship of contaminating drinking water by pumping toxic slurry while setting up a separate piping system to his mansion.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/19/west-virginia-gop-senate-primary-blankenship-537827

[Phoenix61]

1. Awesome!

Dems playing politics to win.

[Beartracks]

2. "Meddle"? Really?

Sounds perhaps like an attempt to equate Democrats with Russians.

============

[LisaM]

3. WOW, misleading headline! They just chose not to target him in ads.

I'd hardly call that meddling. It's just being strategic.

[msongs]

4. if dems promote him and he wins, why should anyone vote for the actual democrat then? nt

[LisaM]

6. They are not promoting him. That headline is practically propaganda.

People need to read the article.

[Hortensis]

12. WHY should anyone vote for Democratic incumbent Joe Manchin

over a truly despicable Republican with a decades-long history of depraved indifference to life and contempt for the wellbeing of mine families and their communities, and who would take that attitude to DC?

Blankenship served one year in prison, msongs, for crimeS that, among other things, resulted in the deaths of 29 men. Republicans designed and passed the applicable law to protect wealthy mine owners like Blankenship to be a MISDEMEANOR, with a maximum sentence of one year, maximum fine of $250K.

But his current Republican opponents are also despicable, but without any specific deaths on their records, believed much harder to beat.

Here're some key points from this (conservatively slanted) article:

Duty and Country, a Washington-based Super PAC, began airing TV and web ads savaging the two mainstream Republican candidates, Rep. Evan Jenkins and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who are competing in the May 8 primary. Left off the group’s target list, however, was Blankenship, who spent one year in prison following the 2010 explosion at his Upper Big Branch Mine that killed 29 workers. ...

In propping up Blankenship, the Democratic Party is wading into an intensifying GOP civil war. Republicans are growing increasingly worried about Blankenship, who has been gaining traction in the primary. GOP officials in Washington are concerned that if Blankenship wins the nomination, he’ll ruin the party’s prospects of defeating Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin in November. ...

Last week, national Republicans launched a super PAC named Mountain Families PAC aimed at stopping Blankenship. The organization, ... has begun airing TV commercials accusing Blankenship of contaminating drinking water by pumping toxic slurry while setting up a separate piping system to his mansion. ...

One of the TV spots (the Democratic ones) says that as the former head of West Virginia State Medical Association, Jenkins pushed doctors to use an insurance company that overcharged, allowing his organization to profit. Another ad describes Morrisey as a carpetbagger, calling him a “millionaire New Yorker and former lobbyist who came down here and ran for office with no idea of the real challenges West Virginians face.”

“We made the strategic decision based on data that shows that either Patrick Morrisey or Evan Jenkins is more likely to be the nominee, so that’s where we’re focusing our attention,” he said.

[mcar]

5. Good!

[groundloop]

7. Misleading headline..... they're simply taking aim at the two frontrunners

That's NOT the same as promoting Blankenship.

[azureblue]

9. an interesting spin on the facts

I'm trying to figure out why the author of the article had to stretch so far to back up his headline. All I can see is an attempt to accuse Dems of "meddling" in hopes of setting up a false equivalency or accusing Democrats of influencing an election.

The tip is the fact that the author is the one making the attempt of trying to work Blankenship in, where he was never a factor to begin with. IOW, the article starts off (in typical GOP fashion_ with a fact, then slips in a spin, or lie, then tries to pair the two in hopes the reader will buy the lie as fact.

The headline if patently false.

[saidsimplesimon]

10. azureblue, thank you for the succint

analysis, spot on, imo.

I could not recommend the thread because, well, the "meddling" and its implications, as you explained so well.

[paleotn]

8. It's about damn time.

As I mentioned earlier today, politics is not a activity for the weak at heart. It's a brawl, and my Democratic Party has started brawling once again.

[saidsimplesimon]

11. I am very proud

of the accomplishments in recent elections. The candidates tailored their message to their constituents. They ran on a positive message from the Democratic platform. The GOTV efforts, especially within the black community has been awesome. On the whole, I perceive Democratic candidates are better organized, have grass roots support, and are attracting Republicans to vote for the Democrat. There are of course many more positive accomplishments, and things to improve actions .

"The Art of War"

[IronLionZion]

13. Meddle like the Russians hacking into systems?

Or meddle like they chose who to run ads against, which is completely normal politics.

Politico sucks

[FSogol]

14. LOL, I knew that was a Politico headline before even looking!

Translation: Divide, divide, divide....both parties are the same....divide, etc.