West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin has let it be known that he will forgo attending the Democratic convention later this summer. Manchin has also refused to say if he will vote for the standard-bearer of his party, President Obama.
Two other prominent West Virginia Democrats will also skip the convention; Rep. Nick Rahall and Governor Ray Tomblin.
“I intend to spend this fall focused on the people of West Virginia, whether that’s representing them in my official U.S. Senate duties or here at home, where I can hear about their concerns and ideas to solve the problems of this great nation,” said Manchin in a statement. “I will remain focused on bringing people together for the next generation, not the next election.”
The announcements come after Manchin and Tomblin both indicated earlier this year that they were not sure they would personally support President Obama’s re-election effort.
“The people in West Virginia, they basically look at the candidates — whatever you’re running for, whether it be the president itself, or whatever — [they look at] the performance and the result that’s been attained,” Manchin told the National Journal in April. “Right now in West Virginia, these first three and a half years haven’t been that good to West Virginia. So, then you look [at] what the options will be, who will be on the other end.”
Tomblin reiterated that he had not decided who to back in November when discussing his decision to opt out of attending the convention.
“As he has said, he has serious problems with both Governor Romney and President Obama,” Tomblin campaign spokesman Chris Stadleman told the Metro News. “The Governor feels that his time is best spent working in West Virginia to move our state forward instead of attending a four-day political rally in North Carolina.”
The West Virginia Republican Party was quick to condemn Tomblin and Manchin over the news.
“We all know the only reason they’re refusing to attend the DNC Convention is they’re afraid to tell the people of West Virginia who they support for President, and any attempt to suggest otherwise is political spin aimed at purposefully misleading the voters,” said West Virginia GOP Chairman Conrad Lucas in a statement.
No doubt the president’s war on coal has something to do with the decision of those three Democrats to decline the opportunity to be seen with Obama, as well as other Democrats who have embraced the president’s inane energy policies. And they probably won’t be the only southern Democrats who will find something better to do that week than go to Charlotte.
I applaud ALL West Virginia and federal pols who’ve allowed mountaintop removal to beautify the state with rocky moonscapes.
Yes, it would have looked so much better if they’d peppered the landscape with giant propellors.
And it would have been better if all that lousy industry that relied on West Virginia coal, all that ugly urban growth that was powered by West Virginia coal—in fact, all that filthy industrial revolution stuff that made America a world industrial and military power and the envy of the world, that was powered in part by West Virginia coal—had never happened at all.
Well, if prizes are being handed out, I move we vote him the Honorable Manchin.
I do not have a problem with this at all. He is doing what he is supposed to do, representing his State. From what little I know, he seems an actual, old-fashioned Democrat.
The Republican Party needs someone on the other side of the aisle with whom they can have reasonable disagreements, reasonable discussions, and come up with reasonable solutions which are acceptable to the vast majority of America. They do not have such a partner in today’s Democratic Party. The Dem Party no longer represents most Dem voters.
Most of the actual Democrats like Manchin have become “moderate” Republicans, so the situation is all skewed. The political Center is not between Repubs and Dems, but between Conservatives and “moderates”.
So, good for Manchin. He has to avoid Obama and his policies, without alienating the Party bosses. Tricky thing to do. I wish he could just come out and say that Obama does not represent the Dem Party that he believes in, but that is political suicide, most likely.
I think the Repubs ought to cut him a little slack, and they may find someone with whom they can work in ’13.
#3 Marc Malone
That does make the assumption that the reasons for not attending are in fact ideological rather than tactical. If after being re-elected, they become loyal toadies of the Left as Democrats are; it just means that Republicans and moderate unaffiliateds just got played by the Enemy again.
We have been lied to more than once by Democrats trying to claim that they were “different” this time.
Subotai Bahadur
I’m waiting for someone to label any white Democrat Senator who does not attend the convention in Charlotte as racist.
Crickets.