Manchin (D? - WV) Won't Even Say If He Voted For Obama In State's Primary Election

[hatrack]

BUCKHANNON, W.Va. — Sen. Joe Manchin didn’t vote for the felon on the ballot, but he still won’t say whether he actually checked the box for President Barack Obama in last month’s Democratic primary in West Virginia.

That’s how bad it is for Obama in West Virginia: A popular Democratic senator refuses to admit whether he voted for his party’s sitting president.

“This is something I’ve never seen in my life,” said Manchin, who’s been asked repeatedly whether he left his ballot blank instead.

Manchin’s reticence reflects the bigger challenges for Obama in West Virginia and beyond as the president tries to win over disenchanted, largely white working-class voters in swing states from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt. Even as Democrats control all levers of power in West Virginia and dominate the state’s voter registration rolls by a nearly 2-1 margin over the GOP, Obama remains just as unpopular here as he was when he lost the 2008 primary and general election by resounding margins. The state is expected to be an easy Mitt Romney win in November.

EDIT

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0612/77084.html

[Skinner]

1. I'm of two minds on this.

On the one hand, it pisses me off to see a Democratic US Senator not admit he voted for the Democratic President of the United States.

On the other hand, if that's what a Democrat needs to do to win a US Senate seat in West Virginia, so be it.

[xxqqqzme]

2. West Virginia is

controlled by the fundies and coal companies pumping money into campaigns. When I lived there the UMW was still strong but it was losing power. There were good Democrats then. Now not so much. Talk about an entire state voting against their best interests!

[FBaggins]

3. Doesn't really have a thing to do with "how bad it is for Obama in WV"

It's really about the challenges of Manchin being a Democrat in DC.

Manchin has a comfortable lead for reelection in WV... and the only way to endanger that is to become associated with the President.

And since nothing he can do can help the President in WV...