Cheat-Seeking Missles

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Sen. Pork To Run Again

Sen. Pork has announced his intention to run for a record ninth term. Our office's token Dem went to school in W.Va., and gives this report:
Let the fun begin. Likely challenger will be Shelley Moore Capito, and she is well liked in the Mountain State. And as the population moves more right in their voting trends, this may be a tough battle for Byrd to win. That being said, West Virginians love their peers and with 15% of the State over 65 they may continue their loyalty to the Old Dog.

My senior year, I worked on a Secretary of State campaign in WV, where the campaign manager attacked the age of the front runner (rightfully so as he was literally 90 years old and a former Truman speech writer). At that point the race was virtually neck and neck with our guy down 5 points, 2 months to go. After the attack, we dropped to a distant fourth and received less than 5% of the vote. This may be an indication that Capito can’t win on an age-based (or biased) campaign. One thing for sure is that this will be one midterm to watch.
He's right about that.