Joe Manchin Listens

First question: Why would Manchin defer a special election for another year and a half if he's that popular?  Might it be because this cycle is going to be so disastrous for Dems everywhere that he doesn't want to take any chances?

Second question: If Manchin can appoint himself to the Byrd seat, couldn't he also appoint his own gubernatorial successor on the very same grounds?  For that matter, why couldn't he appoint himself to the Senate and retain the governorship, leaving his Lieutenant Governor to run day-to-day state operations in an "acting" capacity?

Third and final quesion: Isn't it at least possible that all this corrupt partisan self-serving appointing could sour West Virginies on Manchin, setting him up to be knocked out by Shelley Moore Caputo in 2012?

-Me, nine days ago

West Virginia Secretary of State Natalie Tennant late last week:

Secretary of State Natalie Tenant has already called on state lawmakers to revise the law to allow for a special election.

“For me, there is a distinct line between how I personally feel and what I can legally do,” Tennant said on her website late last week. “I personally believe that the voters of the state should be allowed to elect a successor to Senator Byrd sooner than November of 2012.” 

West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin, yesterday:

Manchin, a Democrat who said he would be "highly" interested in running for the seat himself, expressed discomfort with Secretary of State Natalie Tennant's ruling that the governor should name a placeholder to the seat until it comes up for election in 2012.

"I believe in the power of the vote. I believe in the election process," Manchin told reporters. "Two and a half years to appoint someone to fill the shoes of Robert C. Byrd is too long."

"There is reasonable concern that there should be clarity to this, and that is why I am asking the attorney general [Darrell McGraw] to render a legal opinion on this as quickly as possible," he said.

...

Manchin's announcement came hours after Republican Representative Shelley Moore Capito, a potential Senate candidate herself, urged state legislators to move for a vote this fall.

Call this Joe Manchin's "come to Jesus" moment.  Perhaps he realized that his own personal political dynamic was the opposite of what it is for the rest of his party.  Whereas in the latter case, the Death Wave....

....is coming this November, for Manchin his alleged popularity will probably serve as a stout and sturdy wall against it, keeping the Klan Byrd seat in Donk hands.  Whereas if he were to "play games" by appointing himself to fill out the entire second half of the Kleagle's term, he could probably count on a royally pissed-off electorate coming for blood in 2012.

That was the "discomfort" with Secretary Tennant's ruling.  But you know what?  That's okay.  Because even cynicism that recognizes that the ultimate authority still rests in the sovereign people is cynicism we can live with.

And now, Representative Caputo, as Captain Nyobe hissed at Morpheus on the Core Network Freeway, "Kick his ass."