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Monday, April 9th, 2018

West Virginia Republicans Are Getting Behind a Candidate So Odious, Even Trump Won’t Go Near Him

Author:     Josh Voorhees
Source:     Slate
Publication Date:     April 06, 20183:56 PM
Link: West Virginia Republicans Are Getting Behind a Candidate So Odious, Even Trump Won’t Go Near Him
Stephan:   Have you noticed the quality of some of the Republican candidates for the upcoming election? Have you compared them to the young socially progressive Democrats, particularly the women, who are running? I find the disparity quite notable and revealing. Here is the worse of the worse in the Republican field. Ask yourself: How is it possible that a political party could even consider a person like Don Blankenship?  

U.S. Senate candidate Don Blankenship speaks at a town hall meeting at West Virginia University on March 1 in Morgantown.
Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

At the end of an hourlong event in West Virginia on Thursday, Donald Trump polled the crowd about whom they would like to see win next month’s Republican primary for U.S. Senate. “Should we do a little test?” asked the president, who was flanked by the two establishment-approved candidates, state attorney general Patrick Morrisey and U.S. Rep. Evan Jenkins. “Who’s voting for Patrick? Who’s voting for Evan?”

Noticeably absent from the stage was a third candidate for the GOP nomination, one with far more money and name recognition: Don Blankenship, the coal baron and ex-con who the Republican establishment fears will spoil their chances of defeating Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin this fall in a state Trump won by more than 40 percentage points in 2016.

When Blankenship jumped into the race last fall, many wondered whether his […]

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