Republicans Have Another Candidate Problem... This One In West Virginia

The Republican Party attracts bizarre crackpots and because of the nature of the GOP support system, sometimes those bizarre crackpots wind up as officials party nominees. Last night we saw the Illinois Republican Party mortified as Nazi Party leader Arthur Jones win their nomination in a Chicagoland district. And whether it's Arthur Jones, Roy Moore (AL), Sharron Angle (NV), Rich Iott (OH), Christine O'Donnell (DE), Todd Akin (MO), Richard Mourdock (IN)... there is always a chance the Republicans will wind up with a candidate so horrifying that a Democrat can win in even the reddest of constituencies. And now the Democrats have Trump in every constituency. That might not work in West Virginia, though. West Virginia is the Trumpiest state in the union. The PVI is R+19 and Trump beat Hillary there 489,371 (68.5%) to 188,794 (26.4%). Keep in mind though, that Bernie had also crushed Hillary in West Virginia in the primary-- 51.4% to 35.8%. In fact, in some key counties, Bernie not only beat Hillary, he also beat Trump! Here's just a dozen examples:

• Boone Co-- Bernie- 2,410; Trump- 1,388
• Braxton Co-- Bernie- 1,321; Trump- 861
• Brooke Co-- Bernie- 1,966; Trump- 1,963
• Fayette Co-- Bernie-3,585; Trump- 2,683
• Lincoln Co-- Bernie- 1,510; Trump- 1,193
• Logan Co-- Bernie- 3,201; Trump- 1,665
• Marion Co-- Bernie- 5,324; Trump- 4,035
• McDowell Co-- Bernie- 1,453; Trump- 760
• Mingo Co-- Bernie- 2,425; Trump- 1,161
• Monongalia Co-- Bernie- 8,096; Trump- 5,971
• Wetzel Co-- Bernie- 1,744; Trump- 1,096

Yesterday, Alex Isenstadt reported on another Republican potential disaster in West Virginia, the heart of Trumpville. Ex-con Don Blankenship wants to Make West Virginia Great Again. As of the December 31 FEC reporting deadline Blankenship had written his Senate campaign a $400,000 personal check-- it's over a million in self-funding now... and there's plenty more where that came from. "With Blankenship skyrocketing in the West Virginia Republican Senate primary and blanketing the airwaves with ads assailing his fractured field of rivals as career politicians," wrote Isenstadt, "senior party officials are wrestling with how, or even whether, to intervene. Many of them are convinced that Blankenship, who served a one-year sentence after the deadly 2010 explosion at his Upper Big Branch Mine, would be a surefire loser against Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin-- and potentially become a national stain for the party."

The discussions have intensified over the past few weeks. During separate meetings with the National Republican Senatorial Committee, aides to Blankenship’s two primary opponents, Rep. Evan Jenkins and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, pointed to Blankenship’s traction and questioned what could be done to stop him. The Senate GOP campaign arm, which heard out the appeals, recently commissioned a survey to gauge the coal king’s electoral strength and determine his staying power in the race.

Those familiar with the party’s deliberations say the results are clear: With a little more than a month until the May 8 primary, Blankenship, a towering figure in West Virginia politics long before this campaign and an avid opponent of unions, has vaulted into essentially a three-way tie with his rivals and is positioned to move ahead.

The talks underscore the intense pressure Republicans are under in the era of Trump, as they struggle to control insurgent figures with large grass-roots conservative followings. While some senior Republicans are anxious to block Blankenship, others believe that such a move could backfire and turn him into a martyr-- much as it did when the national GOP dropped millions of dollars in an unsuccessful attempt to take down Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore in a Republican primary. [And much like the DCCC stumbled into be attacking Laura Moser in Texas.]

Like Moore, Blankenship is an entrenched, anti-establishment figure running in a conservative state. In an interview with Politico, the 68-year-old Blankenship dared the party to come after him.

“I think it would get me votes if they did,” he said. “I think the Republicans in West Virginia are not really happy with the Republicans in the Senate and the House in general.”

Further deepening the tensions is a long-simmering distrust between Blankenship and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), another powerful Appalachian Republican. Blankenship has spoken with McConnell over the years and said he never found him sufficiently supportive of the coal industry. McConnell, for his part, was recently quoted as saying he did not want Blankenship to win the nomination.

National Republicans have been struck by the potency of Blankenship’s campaign. Earlier this year, Blankenship and his longtime political strategist, Greg Thomas, traveled to Washington to meet with the White House political affairs office. During the meeting, Blankenship described his battles with Manchin and outlined how he’d used his deep pockets to fund Republican campaigns in a state that until the past decade had been dominated by Democrats.

White House officials, who’ve also met with Jenkins and Morrisey, came away thinking that Blankenship was for real.

Blankenship’s rise has been driven in part by his self-financed TV ads. Since launching his campaign in late November, Blankenship has spent over $1.1 million on roughly a dozen commercials, according to media buying totals, far surpassing his opponents. Morrisey has so far spent nothing on TV ads and Jenkins only about $38,000.

Blankenship has used the ads to paint his rivals as insufficiently conservative, blasting Jenkins over his positions on Obamacare and climate change and Morrisey on abortion. He’s positioned himself as an unshakable ally of President Donald Trump, who received 68 percent of the vote in the state.

Yet he has also undertaken an effort to clear his name.

The spots have accused the Obama administration and Manchin-- who was governor at the time of the mine disaster and has said Blankenship has “blood on his hands”-- of conspiring to imprison him. He has also featured testimonials from his daughter, Jennifer, who’s described her father as a soft-hearted family man and provider for West Virginians.'

Even before he entered the race late last year, Blankenship was a familiar face on West Virginia TV sets. After being released from prison in 2017, he invested around $600,000 on a slate of commercials aimed at redeeming himself.

“He’s running ads, he has money. He’s not a wallflower,” said Hoppy Kercheval, an influential radio show host in the state. “He’s a puncher and a counterpuncher.”

“He’s the guy that’s on the move. He’s the guy that’s gaining traction in this wide open race,” Kercheval added. “I think it has this everyman appeal in West Virginia.”

Yet Blankenship’s appeal, many believe, runs deeper. During the 2000s, he spent heavily out of his own pocket to buttress the GOP at a time when it was weak in the state, earning him goodwill with many in the party. And while many blamed him for the 2010 explosion, which killed 29 miners, others in the coal-dependent state came to see Blankenship as a pivotal economic force through his leadership of Massey Energy.

Blankenship’s allies insist that any comparison to Moore is unfair, and argue that he’ll be a viable nominee in November. Unlike Moore, in Alabama, they say, Blankenship has established a substantial campaign apparatus and surrounded himself with seasoned advisers who’ve worked with him over the years, including Thomas. His ability to self-fund makes him a serious threat to Manchin, they contend.

National GOP officials say they’ve made no decision on whether to weigh in against Blankenship, though several said they expected the Senate committee to create a menu of options. But they contend that any possible option poses serious risks. The GOP, which wants to remain neutral in the primary, is reluctant to endorse either Jenkins or Morrisey. And advertising against Blankenship directly risks a serious backlash. Some simply want to leave it up to Jenkins and Morrisey to take him on.

Blankenship acknowledged the possibility that the national party could intervene against him. But he argued that it shouldn’t.

“Fundamentally, I support the Republican Party. I have supported them for years,” he said. “I certainly think they should embrace me because I’ve been a Republican in West Virginia long before it was cool to be a Republican in West Virginia.”

“They shouldn’t be afraid of me being up there,” he added.

Blankenship ads are really negative. Democratic voters hate negative ads in primaries; Republicans totally love them. Blankenship would like to make West Virginia Republican voters think he's running against Obama. Listen to this crackpot-- and false-- radio ad his campaign started running last week. And this is the TV ad he's running against Congressman Even Jenkins, the Republican (slight) front-runner:

Too Rich And Powerful To Jail?

Ken, Gaius, Noah and I have, over the years, written a good number of posts about coal baron/murderer Donald Blankenship, mostly asking why he isn't in prison or when will he be in prison. It's taken a long, long time but yesterday he was finally sentenced to a year in prison-- but not for murder. He's too rich for that. The wrist slap is for "conspiring to violate federal mine safety standards."

The sentencing, in Federal District Court here, came six years and one day after an explosion tore through Massey’s Upper Big Branch mine, killing 29 people. Although Mr. Blankenship was not accused of direct responsibility for the accident, the deadliest in American coal mining in about 40 years, the disaster prompted the federal inquiry that led to Mr. Blankenship’s indictment.

In addition to the year in jail, Mr. Blankenship was fined $250,000 and is subject to a year of supervised release.

“My main point is wanting to express sorrow to the families and everyone for what happened,” Mr. Blankenship said in court before the sentencing. But he added later: “I am not guilty of a crime.”

The Justice Department had urged Judge Irene C. Berger, the daughter of a coal miner, to sentence Mr. Blankenship to a year in prison, the maximum penalty. Mr. Blankenship’s defense lawyers, who are planning an appeal, recommended that he be fined and placed on probation.

It was virtually unthinkable not long ago that Mr. Blankenship, whose company was central to West Virginia’s coal industry, would ever stand before a judge for sentencing in this state. When a federal jury convicted Mr. Blankenship of a misdemeanor charge in December, the United States attorney said it was the first time such a high-ranking corporate executive had been found guilty of a workplace safety crime. (Jurors, however, dealt a substantial defeat to the Justice Department and acquitted Mr. Blankenship of three felony counts.)

In a lengthy, intricate trial last fall, prosecutors here described Mr. Blankenship, who was Massey’s chief executive at the time of the explosion, as a leader with a stubborn focus on the company’s financial standing. His demands, they argued, contributed to an unspoken conspiracy that company employees were to ignore safety standards and practices if they threatened profits.

Mr. Blankenship’s lawyers, who did not call any witnesses as part of the defense, argued that Mr. Blankenship had been appropriately committed to safety, and that Massey was far from a criminal enterprise.

However limited the Justice Department’s success was in the Blankenship case, the verdict was a landmark. But it is not yet clear whether the government will be able to replicate its success in future cases, partly because of Mr. Blankenship’s unusually deep involvement in Massey’s operations.

Is it even clear whether the government wants to replicate its success in future cases? It sure wouldn't under a Republican Justice Department. Blankenship has paid off Republican politicians to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars-- not even counting the millions he plowed into West Virginia politics, virtually buying up the entire political system of the state-- or at least the Republican end of it.

Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy, has long had a lot of influence in West Virginia. The top executive of the company that owns the mine where 25 miners died this week looms large in state affairs both because of Massey 's economic importance and because of his own penchant for political bluster. But in 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Blankenship might be wielding too much influence, after he spent $3 million of his own money to get a judge elected to a West Virginia court that was ruling on a Massey-related case.

As detailed in an ABC News investigation, Blankenship vacationed on the Riviera with one West Virginia Supreme Court Justice and underwrote an ad campaign supporting the election of another while a $50 million judgment against Massey Energy was before the court. Blankenship's apparently successful multi-million-dollar attempt to change the composition of the court became the basis of a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision-- and the source of a slew of controversial television ads.

The video of Bernie below was aimed at Wall Street banksters, but every word of what he said would apply to characters like Blankenship as easily as it would to Hillary financier Lloyd Blankfein. And what about child rapist Denny Hastert? He claims he doesn't deserve prison. But we don't have the death penalty. We'll find out what the sentence is on April 27. His lawyers said Hastert "apologizes for his misconduct that occurred decades ago" and is "overwhelmed by the guilt" but still won't admit he was raping underage boys nor even discuss how many he raped and whether or not he was still doing it while he was Speaker of the House. (Spoiler: he was, as we reported at the time.) Hastert thinks the shame of having his official portrait removed from the House was punishment enough. How embarrassing for the poor thing!

Disgracefully, the Justice Department still hasn't filed any charges against Rick Snyder for his role as ringleader in the worst crime committed in the history of Flint, Michigan. The citizens of the city just did it themselves though, a racketeering lawsuit filed yesterday

The lawsuit accuses Snyder and others of hatching a "wrongful scheme" to reduce Flint's indebtedness by stopping the impoverished city from buying treated Lake Huron water from Detroit, instead of "invoking time tested, well-honed federal bankruptcy protections for restructuring the debts of municipalities."

...Along with Snyder, the suit names as defendants the state of Michigan; the departments of Environmental Quality and Health and Human Services; and a number of state officials, along with emergency managers whom Snyder appointed to oversee the city. Also named are the city of Flint, two of its utility officials and three consulting companies that advised them.

Through their actions, "unthinkable harm has been inflicted on the residents of Flint," the suit said.

It was filed by law firms in Southfield and New York, which said in a news release that they represented more than 400 people.

In a separate class-action lawsuit in federal court in Ann Arbor, attorneys representing the governor and other officials are claiming governmental immunity. The response, filed Monday, said the judge doesn't have jurisdiction and should dismiss the case.

"There are meaningful exceptions (to immunity) that apply to this situation, and their willingness to try to deprive people of their day in court is really breathtaking," said Michael Pitt, an attorney for Flint residents.

What Do Desperate Republican Primary Candidates Do When They Get REALLY Desperate? West Virginia, Mountain Mama

New polling for West Virginia's Republican primary-- which in May 8th-- is making felon and far right crackpot Don Blankenship desperate. He's been leading establishment candidates Congressman Evan Jenkins and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey-- and now he isn't. Fox shows both considerably ahead of him now. In a state where Trump had an 87% approval rating among Republican primary voters, Blankenship, the candidate most like him, is coming in a distant third.

So how's he responding? He's on the attack-- against Mitch McConnell, who has been leading establishment attacks against him. But blankenship has now gone beyond just reminding West Virginia GOP voters that "McConnell should not be in the U.S. Senate, let alone be the Republican Majority Leader. He is a Swamp captain. The Russians and McConnell should both stop interfering with elections outside their jurisdictions." Now he's attacking McConnell's personal life.

He hasn't mentioned that McConnell is a closet case, used to pick up young men in Louisville's "pickle park" and that his marriage to Elaine Chao is a farce. But that may come next. Right now he's just talking about the marriage from another perspective, one's we've been pointing out for over a decade-- that the marriage has helped make McConnell wealthy because of China trade

On Monday, Blankenship told a West Virginia radio show on 106.3 FM, that McConnell has a conflict of interest because his father-in-law is a "wealthy Chinaperson." His "wife" was Secretary of Labor under Bush and Trumpanzee appointed her Transportation Secretary. The New York Times exposed Blankenship as not even living in West Virginia any longer (but near Las Vegas) and that he himself had once mulled Chinese citizenship for himself because he admires authoritarian governance.

He didn't bring up the rumors that McConnell is a closet queen, but only said that he has "an issue when the father-in-law is a wealthy Chinaperson"-- Chao’s father owning a shipping company in China-- and that "there’s a lot of connections to some of the brass, if you will, in China."

The Times noted that Blankenship’s own fiancée, Farrah Meiling Hobbs, was born in China and moved to the U.S. in 1996, tand that she's a "former Chinese professional basketball player and part-time model." While he was criticizing McConnell for being "soft on China" and demanding that McConnell and other senators need to be "more transparent," about their business ties, Blankenship is the only candidate in the West Virginia race who is refusing to disclose his personal finances-- required by state law-- claiming that the penalties are so light that he has no incentive to do so. Last week he said "I don’t personally think anybody should have to disclose private information," quite different from what he now saying about McConnell

Josh Holmes was Miss McConnell's campaign manager and later his chief of "staff." Here's a recent tweet he put out about Blankenship in regard to his fears about Blankenship exposing the close relationship and a McConnell have always enjoyed:

How Toxic Will Trump Be For The GOP In Tomorrow's Primaries?

Tomorrow is Tuesday... primary day in 4 important states: North Carolina, Indiana, West Virginia and Ohio-- each of which was carried by Señor Trumpanzee. If you think the GOP primary in West Virginia is crackpotsville... well, you're right, but almost sane compared to what's going on in Indiana. Last week we looked at the mess the Indiana senate primary has turned into. The Republicans in the battle there are charging each other with things like "Drunken driving, self-dealing and false advertising," while all 3 candidates-- Congressman Todd Rokita, Congressman Luke Messer and former state Rep. Mike Braun-- are "doing their best to portray themselves as the second coming" of... Señor Trumpanzee. If it comes down to who is the most Trump-like-- and it well may-- Braun should have the edge.

Over the weekend Bill Barrow surveyed the Trumpist landscape in all for states for A.P. The nomination fights are pulling the party to the right, leaving some leaders worried their candidates will be out of a step with the broader electorate in November. "GOP candidates are jockeying to be seen as the most conservative, the most anti-Washington and the most loyal to the president. It’s evidence of the onetime outsider’s deepening imprint on the Republican Party he commandeered less than two years ago."

In Indiana, Republicans will pick from among three Senate candidates who have spent much of the race praising Trump and bashing each other. In West Virginia, a former federal convict and coal baron has taken aim at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) with racially charged accusations of corruption.

In Ohio, Republicans are certain to nominate someone more conservative than outgoing GOP Gov. John Kasich, a 2016 presidential candidate, moderate and frequent Trump critic. Even Kasich’s former running mate, Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor, has pledged to unwind some of Kasich’s centrist policies, including the expansion of the Medicaid government insurance program following Democrats’ 2010 health insurance overhaul.

With Trump’s job approval hanging around 40 percent and the GOP-run Congress less than half that, the abandonment of the middle has some Republicans raising alarms.

“The far left and the far right always think they are going to dominate these elections,” said John Weaver, a Trump critic and top strategist to Kasich, who has been become a near-pariah in the primary to succeed him.

Weaver's reasoning has one little problem. There is no far left among Democratic politicians. The battles in the Democratic Party are between right-wing Democrats like Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (Blue Dog-AZ) on the one hand and mainstream slightly left of center Democrats on the other side. There are 5 Democrats with 100% Progressive Punch ratings this year: Jamie Raskin (MD), Jan Schakowsky (IL), Barbara Lee (CA), Karen Bass (CA) and John Lewis (GA). None are extremists; none are remotely "far left."

On the other hand, putative Democrat Conor Lamb (Blue Dog-PA), who the GOP just spent over a million dollars smearing as a far right lunatic has a ZERO rating, making him far to the right of most Republicans in the House. And he's a DCCC role model! There are 22 Republicans with zero scores-- and all of them really are far right (or pretending to be): Karen Handel (GA), Bradley Byrne (AL), Jackie Walorski (IN), Pete Sessions (TX), Devin Nunes (CA), Brett Guthrie (KY), Ken Calvert (CA), Sam Johnson (TX), Mac Thornberry (TX), Joe Wilson (SC), Kay Granger (TX), Steve Scalise (LA), Gregg Harper (MS), Steve Womack (AR), Dennis Ross (FL), Rick Crawford (AR), Duncan Hunter (CA), Austin Scott (GA), Trey Gowdy (SC), Gus Bilirakis (FL), Rodney Frelinghuysen (NJ) and Lou Barletta (PA). And it isn't just their voting records; remember Joe Wilson? He's the one who screamed "You lie" while Obama was delivering the State of the Union. Can you imagine a Democrat doing something like that to Trump, even though every word out of his face is a lie? Lou Barletta is running for the U.S. as an open racist. And what can anyone say about Devin Nunes other than he's counting on Trump eventually pardoning him? OK, back to Barrow:

“You may think it’s wise in a primary to handcuff yourself to the president,” Weaver said. “But when the ship goes down, you may not be able to get the cuffs off.”

North Carolina Republicans will weigh in on the fate of Republican Rep. Robert Pittenger, facing a primary challenger who almost upset him two years ago. Pittenger features Trump prominently in his campaign. Challenger Mark Harris, a prominent Charlotte pastor, has tried to turn the table, saying Pittenger is a creature of Washington who refuses to help Trump “drain that swamp.”

Tough primaries certainly don’t have to be disastrous. They often gin up voter attention and engagement, and can signal strong turnout in the general election.

Dallas Woodhouse, who runs the North Carolina Republican Party, said candidates benefit because they must “make their arguments and voters become more aware of the election.”

Imagine if Pelosi, Lujan, Sena and Bresler ran the DCCC that way, instead of squelching primaries and doing all they can to crush progressives who run against their shit candidates from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. That hasn't been working out very well for crap DCCC recruits so far like Jay Hulings (TX-23), Alex Triantaphyllis (TX-07), Tim Gomes (NY-02), R.D Huffstetler (VA-05) or some of the others the DCCC fattened up on contributions only to see them fall by the wayside to grassroots candidates.

Few national Republicans look at West Virginia and see helpful enthusiasm.

The orange ape spoke up this morning

Former coal executive Don Blankenship has accused McConnell of creating jobs for “China people” and charges that the senator’s “China family” has given him millions of dollars. McConnell’s wife is Trump’s transportation secretary, Elaine Chao, who was born in Taiwan.

Indiana Senate candidates are trying to appeal to Trump voters by adopting the president’s harsh immigration rhetoric and penchant for personal insults. The candidates have even channeled Trump by assigning derisive nicknames to one another: “Lyin’” Todd Rokita, Luke “Missing” Messer and “Tax Hike” Mike Braun.

In several of the Tuesday primaries, Democrats are watching with delight, and having less trouble aligning behind nominees. The chief beneficiaries would be Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Joe Donnelly of Indiana, both sitting on healthy campaign accounts after avoiding their own primary fights.

The leading Democrat for the North Carolina seat, Marine veteran Dan McCready, has raised almost $2 million, slightly more than Harris and Pittenger combined, in a district Trump won by about 12 percentage points. “He will absolutely make this competitive,” Harris said.

In the Ohio governor’s race, liberal former Rep. Dennis Kucinich and former state Attorney General Richard Cordray have managed to avoid open warfare. Cordray, who also led the federal consumer watchdog agency launched under President Barack Obama, is the favorite.

Republicans watched their state party, led by pro-Trump leadership that replaced Kasich allies after the 2016 elections, endorse state Attorney General Mike Dewine, while Taylor has effectively shunned an earlier endorsement from Kasich.

“If Ohio Republicans are divided into Trump Republicans and Kasich Republicans, the Trump Republicans have won,” said the state Democratic chairman, David Pepper. “That helps us.”

Gallup measures Trump with an 89 percent job approval rating among Republicans nationally, but 35 percent among independents and 42 percent overall. Historically, presidents below 50 percent watch their party suffer steep losses in midterm elections.

Democrats must flip about two dozen Republican-held seats to reclaim a House majority, and they must do it with Republican-run legislatures having drawn many districts to the GOP’s advantage. In North Carolina, Harris said the makeup of the district, which stretches from Republican areas of metro Charlotte east through small towns and rural counties, makes his pro-Trump, anti-establishment message a primary and November winner.

Senate Democrats are just two seats shy of a majority, but must defend 26 incumbents, 10 in states where Trump won, including Ohio, Indiana and West Virginia. Republicans are defending nine seats, just one in a state Trump lost.

One nice thing that could pay off in the future: something like eight Kentucky counties are in the West Virginia media markets and they're hearing all this "swamp captain Mitch" and "cocaine Mitch" stuff on their TVs and radios all day and night. It seems to be working for Blankenship at the last minute. Last night Alex Isenstadt reported that West Virginia's establishment Democrats are worrying that Blankenship's candidacy is experiencing a sudden last minute surge. Two weeks ago Blankenship was in third place but after a week of attacking McConnell and Jenkins, he's in first place and Jenkins is disappearing as a contender. People seem to like the anti-McConnell approach. Private polling show him back in first place and "many are convinced that a Blankenship win, coming just months after the disastrous Alabama Senate race, would destroy the party’s prospects of defeating Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin in November."

Trumpanzee Jr. tweeted a plea to "the people of West Virginia to make a wise decision and reject Blankenship. No more fumbles like Alabama. We need to win in November."

Particularly concerning to Republicans is Blankenship’s TV spending. Over the final six days of the race, the self-funding coal baron is set to spend over $640,000 on commercials, according to media buying totals-- more than Jenkins and Morrisey combined. Blankenship has spent over $2.5 million on TV ads in total, far more than his rivals.

What is also distressing, senior Republicans say, is that Jenkins and Morrisey spent nearly all of the campaign savaging each other. Further complicating matters is that a Democratic super PAC, Duty and Country, has invested $1.8 million targeting Jenkins in an effort to keep him from winning the GOP primary, convinced that he would pose a formidable challenge to Manchin.

The bloodbath may ultimately be to the benefit of Blankenship, who has faced far fewer incoming attacks.

Andy Seré, a Jenkins strategist, argued that Morrisey’s attacks against Jenkins “have helped Blankenship,” and that with his last-minute attacks against Blankenship, “Morrisey is scrambling to fix the mess he and his enablers made.”

“But West Virginians see through it,” Seré added. “We are confident the Schumer-Morrisey alliance will fail and Evan Jenkins will prevail."

Happiest man in West Virginia has got to be Joe Manchin. In fact, didn't some notoriously right-of-center anti-gay MSNBC hostess endorse him for president in the last few days? More good news for Manchin. Blankenship is threatening to run as an independent if he doesn't win the GOP primary tomorrow. Blankie: " have not ruled out anything. I’ve said that I cannot let him win because of the opioid connection and Planned Parenthood connection." Manchin should build a cathedral to thank God.

Blankenship Wants Revenge Against Trumpanzee And Cocaine Mitch

A couple of weeks ago we looked at a logical question: Will Blankenship Get Revenge Against Cocaine Mitch And Señor Trumpanzee? Early this morning, Alex Isenstadt had the answer at Politico: Yup. Start by watching the hilarious Facebook ad above. Today Blankenship announced he is running in the general election as the nominee of the Constitution Party and it seems like his only goal is to take votes from the Republican nominee, Patrick Morrisey, handing reelection to conservative Democrat Joe Manchin, who could probably win without the help anyway. One problem Blankenship needs to face up to first: "[H]e would need to overcome a 'sore loser' law in West Virginia that prevents failed candidates in a main-party primary from refiling to run in the general election under another party’s banner." And that law could have had him or someone just like him in mind when it passed.

Blankenship said he’s prepared to challenge that law in court if needed. If he’s successful, his move that could hurt the GOP’s prospects of unseating Democratic incumbent Joe Manchin in November.

“It is especially appropriate for me to be nominated by the Constitution Party given its staunch and uncompromising commitment to upholding the United States Constitution,” Blankenship said.

Should he follow through on his threat, Blankenship, who spent a year behind bars following the 2010 explosion at his Upper Big Branch Mine that killed 29 workers, could play spoiler in the general election by drawing votes from the GOP nominee, state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey. Since the primary, Blankenship has refused to endorse Morrisey, whom he says is incapable of defeating Manchin.

Under West Virginia law, minor party candidates have until Aug. 1 to file the necessary number of signatures to qualify for the ballot. Still, it is unclear whether Blankenship is eligible.

A guide book for 2018 candidates posted on the West Virginia secretary of state’s website states: “Candidates affiliated with a recognized political party who run for election in a primary election and who lose the nomination cannot change her or his voter registration to a minor party organization/unaffiliated candidate to take advantage of the later filing deadlines and have their name on the subsequent general election ballot.”

Blankenship, who spent millions out of his own pockets to fund his Senate campaign, hinted that he was ready for a legal fight.

“Although the establishment will likely begin their efforts against us by mounting a legal challenge to my candidacy, we are confident that-- if challenged-- our legal position will prevail, absent a politically motivated decision by the courts,” he said.

The coal baron also said that the establishment was “determined to keep me-- the most anti-establishment candidate in the nation-- out of the United States Senate,” and that “the press and the establishment have colluded and lied to convince the public that I am a moron, a bigot, and a felon.”

Since the primary, the Republican Party has moved to prevent Blankenship from waging a drawn-out battle that could damage Morrisey’s prospects. President Donald Trump, hoping to smooth over any residual hurt feelings, phoned Blankenship the day after the nomination was settled to congratulate him on his campaign.

Blankenship has said he believes the president played a key role in his defeat. On the day before the primary, Trump sent out a tweet pleading for West Virginia Republicans to reject Blankenship.

...A few days after the primary, his top political strategist, Greg Thomas, said on a radio program that Blankenship would work to defeat Morrisey. And Blankenship released an advertisement [above] in which he warned the Senate GOP leader, “It’s not over.” 

No doubt Miss McConnell is fucking sorry he ever poked the bear with this, the day after the primary. And no, that's not fairy dust all around him... it's Colombian cocaine from his father-in-law's smuggling operation:

Another Tragic Consequence Of 8 Years Of Conservative Governance Unfolds In West Virginia

Don Blankenship-- Corporate murderer?

Massey Energy Co.'s sprawling Upper Big Branch mine, which is operated by serial bad faith players Performance Coal (a Massey front company history of violations for not properly ventilating highly combustible methane gas) is half an hour south of Charleston, West Virginia. Yesterday afternoon a massive explosion of the kind Performance has never been properly punished for, killed at least two dozen workers in the mine.

Following 8 years of lax enforcement of safety rules from the Bush administration-- if you can equate no enforcement with "lax"-- Massey has been fined $382,000 for repeated serious violations at Upper Big Branch as Labor Secretary Hilda Solis worked to fix the concerted damage corrupt conservatives have done to mine safety. The company's CEO, Don Blankenship, has neither committed hari kari nor been lynched-- or even arrested. He did offer some p.r. hack's crafted condolences though: "Tonight we mourn the deaths of our members at Massey Energy."

Am I saying billionaire Blankenship should be executed for murder? Well... he should get a fair trial. There's nothing inherently criminal about him funding the teabagger astroturf movement, even if he is contributing mightily to the ruin of our country, But the tragedy in West Virginia puts the spotlight, once again, on greed-driven mining executives, who have done all they could-- with the connivance of conservative legislators in their pockets-- to stifle regulations.

Resistance from mining companies in Kentucky and other states against tougher safety sanctions has created a backlog of cases, clogged the appeals process and-- in some instances-- allowed operators to delay paying hefty fines.

Members of the House Education and Labor Committee took the mining industry to task Tuesday for contributing to a backlog of mine-safety cases amid concerns that such practices put the nation's miners at risk... Mine owners, many of them in Kentucky and other Appalachian states, are litigating 67 percent of all penalties, according to the House committee. The backlog of cases due for review has jumped from 2,100 in 2006 to approximately 16,000 today.

"Blanket and indiscriminate appeals to the review commission allow irresponsible mine operators to avoid these stiffer penalties," the [House Education and Labor C]ommittee's chairman, Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., told the panel.

In Kentucky, mine operators appeal 80 percent of the fines for serious safety violations, according to the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration. The index of the 16,000 backlogged cases is 616 pages long and contains at least $195 million in potential fines, according to the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission.

Mine safety advocates say the backlog of cases will undermine the 2006 Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act, which is largely credited for improved safety provisions and a reduction of the number of miners who die on the job. In 2007, a collapse at Crandall Canyon in Utah killed nine miners. In 2006, an underground explosion at the Darby Mine in Harlan County, Ky., killed five people, and an explosion at the Sago Mine in West Virginia killed 12 miners.

Few people outside the coal industry, right-wing political inner circles, and outside West Virginia knew who Blankenship was until January when Rolling Stone's Tim Dickinson did an expose on him as part of a major story on Climate Change deniers. What emerged was not a pretty picture but Blankenship was not removed from his positions as a grave danger to his employees and to society.

In an age when most CEOs are canny enough to at least pay lip service to the realities of climate change, Blankenship stands apart as corporate America's most unabashed denier. Global warming, he insists, is nothing but "a hoax and a Ponzi scheme." His fortune depends on such lies: Massey Energy, the nation's fourth-largest coal-mining operation, unearths more than 40 million tons of the fossil fuel each year-- often by blowing the tops off of Appalachian mountains.

The country's highest-paid coal executive, Blankenship is a villain ripped straight from the comic books: a jowly, mustache-sporting, union-busting coal baron who uses his fortune to bend politics to his will. He recently financed a $3.5 million campaign to oust a state Supreme Court justice who frequently ruled against his company, and he hung out on the French Riviera with another judge who was weighing an appeal by Massey. "Don Blankenship would actually be less powerful if he were in elected office," Rep. Nick Rahall of West Virginia once observed. "He would be twice as accountable and half as feared."

On the national level, Blankenship enjoys a position of influence on the board of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has led the fight to kill climate legislation. He enjoys inveighing against the "greeniacs"-- including Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Al Gore — who are "taking over the world." And he has even taken to tweeting about climate change: "We must demand that more coal be burned to save the Earth from global cooling."

In more unguarded moments, however, Blankenship confesses that his over-the-top rhetoric is strategic. "If it weren't for guys like me," he says, "the middle would be further to the left." He also admits that his efforts to block climate legislation are ultimately self-serving: "It would probably cut our business in half."

And I'm serious when I say that criminals like Blankenship deserve fair trials before punishment. On April 9, 1944, Sunday's NY Times Magazine featured an article by Vice President Henry Wallace on the danger of American fascism, pointing out that "it pollutes public opinion, encourages intolerance and presents a challenge to our democratic way of life." There are few better examples of current American fascism than Don Blankenship. The dictionary defines fascism as "A system of government that exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with belligerent nationalism." Thom Hartmann reminds us that "its core governing concept was that the business elite of a nation was far more qualified to run the country than were 'the people.'" With European fascism collapsing, Wallace gave Times readers this perspective:

If we define an American Fascist as one who in case of conflict puts money and power ahead of human beings, then there are undoutably several million fascists in the United States. There are probably several hundred thousand if we narrow the definition to include only those who in their search for money and power are ruthless and deceitful."

This could be inscribed on Blankenship's headstone; but it won't be.



Have you ever seen an OpenSecrets.org page? You'll need to click on it to make it big enough to read:

25 Miners Are Dead In West Virginia Because Rich Wingnut Mine Owner Only Abides By Laws He Approves Of

How many must die before the government protects us from predators like Blankenship?

A few days ago we introduced you to an especially unsavory character, multimillionaire robber baron, Republican campaign donor, union-buster, climate change denier and US Chamber board member, Don Blankenship. He still hasn't been arrested. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis doesn't look like she wants to let the tragic mine disaster at Blankenship's shoddily-run mine get swept under the rug. Obama has asked her and Mine Safety and Health Administrator Joe Main "to report on their early assessment of the deadly explosion’s cause, the safety record at the Upper Branch mine, and the steps that the Federal government should take to improve safety enforcement and prevent future tragedies."

Yesterday Think Progress an early assessment from Blankenship himself, an interview he gave almost exactly one year ago:

They’re very difficult to comply with. There’s so many of the laws that are, if you will, nonsensical from an engineering or a coal mining viewpoint. A lot of the politicians, they get emotional, as does the public, about the most recent accident, and it’s easy to get laws on the books that are not truly helping the health or safety of coal miners. I think we need to be very pragmatic and very careful when we’re passing laws of that nature to make sure that we create as much safety and as much health as can be created for each of the resources we expend.

Blankenship has spent a small fortune trying to elect right-wing Republicans who would let him get away with-- literally-- murder. Even the U.S. Supreme Court has been concerned that he's bought too much influence power for himself in West Virginia.

As detailed in an ABC News investigation, Blankenship vacationed on the Riviera with one West Virginia Supreme Court Justice and underwrote an ad campaign supporting the election of another while a $50 million judgment against Massey Energy was before the court. Blankenship's apparently successful multi-million-dollar attempt to change the composition of the court became the basis of a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision-- and the source of a slew of controversial television ads... Blankenship... spent millions more of his own cash trying to oust Democrats from the state legislature.

West Virginia Senator Jay Rockefeller called Massey Energy and it's CEO Don Blankenship "rogue" and is clear that "Massey is not doing its job when it comes to the safety of its miners."

"I think there's a growing feeling that there are a lot of coal companies that do a good job and then there are others that are outliers or rogues. They try to do as little as they can and I think there's a growing anger on my part, and the part of the people who work in those mines, that this distinction has to be closed."

Just last month, federal inspectors cited Massey Energy for high levels of methane and coal dust as well as a ventilation system that wasn't working properly at the UBB Mine.

Senator Rockefeller says Massey mines have a long history of violations, but never seem to pay the penalties.

"Mr. Blankenship, who's the head of Massey, said that every mine violation is somehow an improvement in safety. I've been pondering that for several days now and haven't been able to make any sense out of that. He's had a lot of fines. He hasn't had to pay those fines because of loopholes in the laws."

Meanwhile, Democrats will try again to rein in serial criminals like Blankenship, although until a CEO like him is dragged before a judge and jury, tried, convicted and made to suffer the consequences for multiple homicides, this kind of corporate exploitation and criminality will never end. This is nothing but bullshit game-playing to distract from the real issues and from the complicity of the ruling elites in this tragedy:

Democrats in Congress are trying to crack down on litigation by mining companies that kept federal safety officials at arm’s length from the Upper Big Branch mine... Massey Energy, the company that operates Upper Big Branch, was able to keep the Mine Safety and Health Administration at bay by regularly appealing safety violations.

Since 2005, Massey has gone to the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission 89 times to dispute safety violations that federal inspectors found at Upper Big Branch, according to an official at the commission.

The litigation stalled many of the findings of safety violations and prevented the Mine Safety and Health Commission from finding a “pattern of violation” that would have enabled them to exercise more oversight... Obama administration officials and Democratic lawmakers have tried since last year to eliminate the backlog of cases at the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, but experts estimate even the newest proposals could fall short.

We don't need a commission and we don't need a congressional investigation. We need a judge-- one who hasn't be paid for by Blankenship-- a jury and an electric chair... or whatever West Virginia uses to eliminate mass murderers. Perhaps Secretary Solis should show President Obama and Senator Rockefeller this video:

West Virginia's Senate Race: A Big Ugly Mess... Centered Around "Cocaine Mitch" McConnell

In his latest ad, West Virginia Republican Don Blankenship strike back at Mitch McConnell by refersring to himl as "cocaine Mitch"-- as in "Ditch Cocaine Mitch." Catchy. The primary is next Tuesday and McConnell is spending millions to make sure Blankenship loses. And it's working. Blankenship's polling has gone down from 1st to 3rd since McConnell's ad campaign went into full swing. Blankenship was formerly referring to McConnell as "a swamp captain," so this is a decision to get more aggressive with the very disliked head of the DC establishment Republicans.

McConnell controls a shady SuperPAC-- the Mountain Families PAC-- which is spending money in the primary to destroy Blankenship with TV ads reminding voters that he is a "convicted criminal," who lived a lavish lifestyle while ignoring mine safety laws. "Don Blankenship," one ad concludes, "was about the money. "West Virginia families paid the price." A million dollars in vicious ads like this have tanked Blankenship's campaign and made it a lot easier for popular conservative Democrat Joe Manchin to keep his seat.

The name-calling is intense. One of McConnell's former staffers, Josh Holmes, long rumored to be a McConnell lover, accused Blankenship of being "mentally ill" and Blankenship himself asserting that McConnell is in thrall to China, due to his Chinese father-in-law's shipping company, Foremost Maritime Corporation, which has financed McConnell's career and personal wealth. In fact, it was on one of the family ships, the Ping May, that the 90 pounds of cocaine was found-- being smuggled from Colombia to Holland. Recent polling has shown that McConnell is the most hated and toxic politician in America.

A decade before McConnell, a notorious closet queen, "married" Elaine Chao (a beard), her criminal father, James Chao, started donating to/bribing McConnell. In 2014, Lee Fang, in a report for for The Nation explains how McConnell benefitted from his relationship with his father-in-law (the cocaine smuggler).

The Republican Senate minority leader’s personal wealth grew seven-fold over the last ten years thanks in large part to a gift given to him and his wife in 2008 from James Chao worth between $5 million and $25 million (Senate ethics forms require personal finance disclosures in ranges of amounts, rather than specific figures). The gift helped the McConnells after their stock portfolio dipped in the wake of the financial crisis that year, and ensured they could pay off more than $100,000 in mortgage debt on their Washington home.

The generous gift made McConnell one of the wealthiest members of the Senate, with a net worth averaging around $22.8 million, according to The Washington Post’s review of his financial disclosures.

Following the gift, McConnell sent a letter of congratulations to an auditorium of Chinese officials in Shanghai who were gathered for an event honoring James Chao’s wife (McConnell’s mother-in-law, Ruth Mulan Chu Chao, who passed away in 2007). The Shanghai Mulan Education Foundation, created in her honor, regularly hosts students from the University of Louisville, where McConnell has a leadership academy bearing his name that sends students on trips to China.

The ties between McConnell and his in-laws have come under scrutiny before. In 2001, they were probed in depth by the New Republic in an article that charged that McConnell led an effort to soften his party’s criticism of China. Through James Chao, who was a classmate of Jiang Zemin, the president of China in the ’90s, McConnell and his wife met with Jiang several times, both in Beijing and in Washington. McConnell subsequently tempered his criticism of Chinese human rights abuses, and broke with hawks like Senator Jesse Helms to support Most Favored Nation trading status with China. As Foremost established closer ties with mainland China, McConnell endorsed the position that the United States should remain “ambiguous” about coming to the defense of Taiwan. In 1999, McConnell and his wife appeared at the University of Louisville with Chinese Ambassador Li Zhaoxing. Li used the opportunity to bash congressional leaders for rebuking China over its repression of the Falun Gong religious sect. “Any responsible government will not foster evil propensities of cults by being over-lenient,” Li reportedly said at the event with McConnell and Chao. Rather than distance himself from the remarks, McConnell reportedly spoke about his “good working relationship” with Li.

...McConnell has positioned himself over the years as a tough on drugs politician. In 1996, McConnell was the sole sponsor of the Enhanced Marijuana Penalties Act, a bill to increase the mandatory minimum sentencing for those caught with certain amounts of marijuana. A press release noted that his bill would make “penalties for selling marijuana comparable to those for selling heroin and cocaine.”

In recent weeks, McConnell has touted his role in calling for more federal money to be used for drug enforcement.

Blankenship, whose own fiancée is from China, has been on the campaign trail telling West Virginia Republican voters that McConnell "has a lot of connections in China" and that his wife, now Trump's Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, is "from China, so we have to be really concerned that we are in truth" when it comes to putting America’s interests first. Meanwhile, McConnell's former lover, Holmes, noted that Blankenship had used a "racial blast" against the Taiwan-born Chao, whom he described as "the dictionary definition of the American dream... The one consistency we've seen over the last decade is that the death rattle of a primary candidate is always a tendency to attack other Republicans because they know reporters will report it. At this point what's clear is that voters are writing him off and so he knows that by attacking McConnell he'll get attention."

McConnell knows Manchin will easily defeat Blankenship, which is why he's doing all he can to make sure he loses next week's primary. As of the April 18th FEC reporting deadline Blankenship had raised $3,517,000, as much as the 2 generic GOP establishment candidates, Patrick Morrisey and Evan Jenkins combined. 99.94% of what Blankenship has "raised" ($3,515,000) came from his own bank account. McConnell's Mountain Familes PAC has spent $1,328,456 attacking Blankenship and McConnell's Senate Leadership Fund has kicked in another hundred grand. Meanwhile Schumer got into the act by spending $1,833,351 to help Blankenship, persuaded that he will be the easiest Republican for Manchin to beat. Sounds like a vile mess? Of one thing there is no doubt: the winner of the West Virginia Senate race in November will be a conservative who puts special interests ahead of working families' interests. The game may be expensive-- but it is definitely rigged.

Which Party Hates Its Own Grassroots More?

McConnell salutes West Virginia grassroots Republican voters

Third party Super PACs spent $7,343,577 tearing apart Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate race. $6,552,448 of that came from Mitch McConnelll's Senate Leadership PAC. McConnell had so sullied Moore's reputation that when he won the primary against the establishment candidate, he couldn't win the general election. Despite Alabama's statewide PVI of R+14 and despite Trump having crushed Hillary in the state 1,318,255 (62.1%) to 729,547 (34.4%), Democrat Doug Jones still beat him 673,896 (50.0%) to 651,972 (48.3%)on December 12, 2017. Moore could not overcome all the negativity from fellow Republicans.

But it isn't just the corrupt Republican establishment waging this kind of warfare against its own Outside-the-Beltway grassroots. The Democrats do the exact something. The DCCC attacks on Laura Moser in Texas and Levi Tillemann in Colorado are examples of the same kind of ugliness. The DCCC would rather lose to a Republican than win with a progressive.

And now Alex Isenstadt reported in Politico over the weekend that Miss McConnell is up to his tricks again, this time in West Virginia. Watch:

The Republican establishment has launched an emergency intervention in the West Virginia Senate primary aimed at stopping recently imprisoned coal baron Don Blankenship from winning the party’s nomination.

Late last week, a newly formed super PAC generically dubbed the “Mountain Families PAC” began airing TV ads targeting Blankenship, who spent one year behind bars following a deadly 2010 explosion at his Upper Big Branch Mine. The national party isn’t promoting its role in the group, but its fingerprints are all over it.

The 30-second commercials, which the group is spending nearly $700,000 to air, accuse Blankenship’s company of contaminating drinking water by pumping “toxic coal slurry,” even as the multimillionaire installed a piping system that pumped clean water to his mansion.

“Isn’t there enough toxic sludge in Washington?” the narrator intones.

The assault comes amid rising fears from national Republicans that Blankenship is gaining traction ahead of the May 8 primary. The Republican hopeful has spent his own money to fund a $1.3 million TV ad blitz in which he portrays himself as the casualty of an Obama-era Justice Department bent on locking him up. He has far outspent his primary opponents, Rep. Evan Jenkins and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, whom he castigates as pawns of the GOP establishment.

Washington Republicans have spent weeks deliberating whether to go after Blankenship, who was released from prison in May after a one-year sentence. They’re worried that he would destroy the party’s chances of defeating Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin in November.

At the same time, they’ve been concerned that attacking him would allow Blankenship to portray himself in the race as the embattled adversary of powerful D.C. interests. The scenario is similar to the one that played out in last year’s Alabama Senate race, when the party spent millions of dollars in an unsuccessful effort to stop former state Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore from winning the GOP nomination.

The national party, perhaps worried about Alabama-style backlash, is not taking credit for the attack or for Mountain Families PAC. But the connections are conspicuous.

According to federal disclosures, the commercials were overseen by several firms that in the past have worked closely with Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that openly led the assault on Moore. They were produced by GOP ad-making firm McCarthy, Hennings, Whalen and were placed on TV by the media buyer Main Street Group, both of whom were paid thousands of dollars by Senate Leadership Fund during the 2016 election cycle.

Mountain Families PAC has also paid nearly $48,000 to Targeted Victory, a suburban Washington-based GOP consulting firm, for web ads targeting Blankenship. During the 2016 cycle, the firm received over $1.5 million from Senate Leadership Fund, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Representatives for Senate Leadership Fund did not respond to requests for comment, or to inquiries about whether it had a role in orchestrating the attack.

The ties between Mountain Families PAC and the national party do not end there. The super PAC lists an Arlington, Virginia, P.O. box that’s previously been used by a number of GOP entities. Among them: a fundraising account benefiting former Republican Sen. Luther Strange, who was the party favorite in last year’s Alabama contest.

The treasurer for Mountain Families PAC, Benjamin Ottenhoff, did not respond to a request for comment. Ottenhoff has previously worked for several party organizations, including the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee.

The ads represent the GOP’s most aggressive action yet against Blankenship. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump flew to West Virginia to hold an ostensibly official event to tout his tax reform package. He was flanked by Jenkins and Morrisey-- a clear attempt to promote their candidacies. Blankenship was not there. Blankenship did not respond to a request for comment. But last month he issued a statement saying he was well aware of the possibility that party leadership could target him.

“There has been an awful lot of talk lately about who the Washington, D.C., establishment and Mitch McConnell, in particular, are supporting in West Virginia’s U.S. Senate race. Let me be clear, I don't care who they are supporting,” he said. “I know that it is not me, because we recognize that those defending the swamp do not want Republican senators who want to drain the swamp.”

In a follow up yesterday evening, Isenstadt reported on Blankenship's response to the news of McConnell's full frontal attack on his campaign. He's demanding that McConnell "stop interfering." Many Democratic candidates could use the same terminology to describe Chuck Schumer, Steny Hoyer, Ben Ray Lujan, Nancy Pelosi and Joe Crowley: "McConnell should not be in the U.S. Senate, let alone be the Republican Majority Leader. He is a Swamp captain. The Russians and McConnell should both stop interfering with elections outside their jurisdictions."

Will Blankenship Get Revenge Against Cocaine Mitch And Señor Trumpanzee?

Mr. Charisma

His hilarious/outrageous ads about Mitch McConnell-- "swamp captain," "cocaine Mitch," "China family"-- helped turn Republican mass murderer and Senate candidate Don Blankenship into something of a folk anti-hero, not just in West Virginia but across the nation. And... much to the delight of Joe Manchin and the DSCC, Blankenship ain't goin' away. Hours after a letter to fake "president" Señor Trumpanzee accusing him of spreading fake news about him and a phone call from the fake president to the defeated Blankenship, Blankship offered another bombshell.

Blankenship attributed his loss to the president’s last-minute intervention in the contest, saying that it had halted his momentum.

“I think if there was any single factor based on the polling at different times, the debates, and all the things I saw, it was probably President Trump’s lack of endorsement-- I don’t know what to call it, but ‘Don’t vote for Don’ tweet,” he said. “I don’t know what else it would have been.”

In the final hours of the race, he said he was convinced that Trump had been pushed into the intervention by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who had aggressively opposed Blankenship.

...Some in the party are concerned that the deep-pocketed Blankenship, who spent more than $2.5 million of his own funds in the primary, could wage an effort to damage Morrisey in the general election.

That's the bombshell. It looks like Trump's "let's all kiss and make up call didn't do any good. Reports are that Blankenship "is actively plotting how to undercut state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey's Senate candidacy. Let's hope Trumpanzee is more successful in his talks with Kim Jong Un in Singapore next month.

Greg Thomas, an adviser and campaign manager for Blankenship, said on Thursday that Blankenship will not support his former rival and "all options are on the table" as Blankenship weighs how best to kneecap Morrisey's Senate campaign.

"Don Blankenship will not be supporting Patrick Morrisey for U.S. Senate," Thomas told West Virginia's "Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval." "I think the one thing he is going to make sure doesn't happen is that Patrick Morrisey does not become a U.S. Senator."

Pressed on why, Thomas appeared to point to Morrisey's New Jersey roots, saying "he's not going to sit back and let a corrupt carpetbagger highjack our party."

...Blankenship has deep pockets and, depending on the path he takes, could cause major headaches for Republicans heading into November.

Thomas didn't specify how Blankenship would ultimately try to influence the election, either by spending against Morrisey or backing a third-party candidate.

"Don Blankenship does not believe it should be Patrick Morrisey. He also does not believe it should be Joe Manchin," he said, adding that "we've only just begun."

A brand new poll of West Virginia voters, released this morning, has Morrisey leading Manchin by 2 points-- 46-44% (within the margin of error). So is Blankenship up to spending some significant money to tank Morrisey? This probably didn't help Blankenship's state of mind much: