Politico touts Dem to GOP candidate; ignores scandal with Don Blankenship causing party switch

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

Elliott "Spike" Maynard was a rightwing Democrat in West Virginia who served as the chief justice of the state supreme court.
Don Blankenship, mountain removal kingpin and CEO of Massey Energy, had business in front of Maynard's court.

While the case was pending, Maynard went on vacation with Blankenship in Monaco.

(Maynard on left, Blankenship on right)
The photos leaked and raised questions about his ties to special interests. Democrats voted him out in the primary in a landslide in 2008.

Here's a link to footage from ABC News on the scandal, in which Blankenship attacks a cameraman.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4Ym8qqR5vU

Fast forward to 2010. Blankenship wants a congressman that will serve his interests and wants to replace Democratic Rep. Nick Rahall.
Maynard switches to the GOP and is the frontrunner for the nomination.
Politico profiles the race and fails to mention a certain detail:

Martin manages to profile disgraced judge Elliot "Spike" Maynard's quest to unseat Rep. Nick Rahall without mentioning the name Don Blankenship even once. (I hear he has something to do with this coal stuff, after all.)

Martin mentions that Maynard is both a former judge and a former Democrat, without explaining exactly how that came about.

Politico leaves their readers to believe that it's the result of some principled stand on the issues, rather than the fact that the Democratic Party booted Maynard out in the primary due to scandal.

Given that Blankenship is the reason "former" precedes Spike's titles, and the fact that The Coalfield Don likely recruited and will be bankrolling Maynard, it's puzzling why such a relevant bit of background info was left out.

http://wvablue.com/diary/5559/the-week-in-coal-21610