White House tried, and failed, to persuade Manchin to make another Senate run

[JoeOtterbein]

And now, the question is, will he run against Biden?

Politico

By HOLLY OTTERBEIN and JONATHAN LEMIRE

11/10/2023 06:34 PM EST

As Sen. Joe Manchin struggled for several months over the next step he would take politically, President Joe Biden’s top advisers privately tried to persuade him to run for another term in the Senate.

Multiple West Wing aides, including senior counselor Steve Ricchetti, and some outside Biden allies talked with the West Virginia Democrat, according to two White House officials and another adviser who were granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to publicly discuss the conversations. Their pitch to Manchin was that, while a reelection bid in a deep-red state would be difficult, he had a path to victory.

They failed to convince him to run.

On Thursday, the senator didn’t just announce that he would not campaign for a third term but also openly toyed with the idea of launching a third-party presidential bid, saying he would be “traveling the country and speaking out, to see if there is an interest in creating a movement to mobilize the middle, and bring Americans together.”

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more at link

[MagickMuffin]

1. Forget it Joe, no one wants what you are selling

You’re an old relic just like the coal you cherish!

[Blue Owl]

2. Cut him loose...

Let the McManchin float away into oblivion

[WVlaserguy]

3. Joe Manchin is a snake

He’s in it for himself

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Let's throw in a progressive and see if West Virginians are as red as they say

After all, they've never heard a liberal platform

[former9thward]

6. They have heard.

In 2020 a progressive and environmental activist, Paula Jean Swearengin, was the Democratic candidate for Senate. She was endorsed by the Sierra Club and anti-gun groups. She got 27%.

[doc03]

5. The Democratic party is the "middle", the majority of Americans

support the Democratic policies. That is why Democrats keep winning the popular vote on their issues.
If it weren't for the Electoral vote Republicans would never win the presidential election again. The Republicans
have only won the popular vote once out of the last 8 presidential elections. Where is the middle between
supporting democracy and wanting to destroy it?

[Irish_Dem]

7. Now that he is quitting am I finally allowed to cuss out this SOB?

[Aepps22]

8. He Didn't Want the Smoke

Manchin didn’t want to lose in an election so he took this route. Very weak and pathetic.

[Buckeyeblue]

9. I agree. He doesn't want to get beat and potentially get beat by a lot

I also don't think he'll run as a true independent. It's expensive to get on all 50 states ballots. Maybe he convinces Libratarians to run him as their candidate but I think outside of WV, it pulls votes away from Republicans.

[bigtree]

10. there's no realistic path for him to the presidency

...he's too conservative for our base voters.

Funny how people anguish over how much support Biden is getting from Latino voters and blacks when this fellow has no chance at all achieving a plurality of voters identifying as Democrats.

Most of his votes will be from republican and conservative spoilers, enabling Trump more than anyone else.

[newdayneeded]

14. Exactly!

I would be thrilled if he ran as an independent. ZERO dems would vote for this turncoat. 99% of his votes would be from trump hating repubs.

[aocommunalpunch]

11. Just to be clear

This guy didn’t work with Biden’s plans because he wanted to help his re-election chances in WV, right? Then, he ghosts the party, anyway? What an absolute piece of shit.

[MrsCoffee]

12. Another shitty headline from Politico. Hardly a White House failure when Manchin has been intent on tanking Biden and

the Democratic Party’s agenda from the minute Biden was elected. There is no negotiating with a narcissist of this magnitude. This is 100% on Manchin.

[Joinfortmill]

13. Not sure what happened, but it appears he's suffered a corruption of the soul