There have been rumors flying for weeks (months?) that Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito will challenge incumbent US Senator Robert C. Byrd who appears inclined to run for a 9th term in the Senate next year. And beyond that, it's been rumored that the White House and Karl Rove plan to pay particular attention to this race. On the basis of comments I've heard from a variety of Democratic officials in the state - their view is that those rumors are entirely accurate. Byrd hasn't faced serious opposition since ... well, I have no idea. Long, long, long before my time - if ever. So West Virginia, a state where Byrd is wildly popular since he'll never let anyone forget about the money he funnels home, but also a state where Bush beat Kerry 56-43, may soon see the biggest-budgeted and most-partisan Senate race it's ever had. Just this week Moveon, with an assist from Senator Obama, raised $634,000 for Byrd in less than 24 hours.
Posted by armand at April 1, 2005 09:56 AM | TrackBack | Posted to West Virginia