I want to mention something about the West Virginia upset

[ThomWV]

Seated Congressman Alan Mollohan lost his Primary bid, and his seat in Congress, last night by a considerable margin, I believe it went 56% the conservative challenger and 44% of the vote went to the more liberal (but not by much) incumbent.

This is what I think is worth mentioning - Mollohan, the more liberal candidate, only won 6 of the 20 counties in his district but the 6 counties he won were the most rural and most remote in the district whereas the challenger, the more conservative of the candidates won biggest in the counties with the largest urban areas.

I'm going to go check and see if the clocks are running backwards because something in the universe isn't right.

[Rhythm]

1. No kidding... that's a big ol' WTF?

Now we get to watch as the DINO and the Repuke try to out-conservative each other for the next 6 months.
:puke:

[whyverne]

2. Ya think they're finally catching on?

After Limbaugh basically laughed in the miner's faces, saying "Where's your union now?", I thought at least a few would start catching on.

[Lasher]

3. Oliverio is Republican-lite just like you've said.

A bad day for West Virginia. So in the general you'll have a choice between two bad candidates and we probably won't be able to primary this DINO out of existence in my lifetime.

FWIW, I don't think Mollohan tried very hard.

[AllentownJake]

4. Wasn't there a scandal involved in this somewhere?

I read that somewhere.

[ThomWV]

5. A couple of years ago there were hints, but nothing ever came of any of it

It was noted that Mollohan got too rich too quick - something to do with real estate deals. There was never any charge or even any hint than any charges might be appropriate. Not a word of it since, other than just smear campaigning against him as far as I can see.

Oliverio was Student Body President back when I was in college at WVU and he is from Morgantown, which is one of the state's larger cities. He is an anti tax, gun toting, pro- life Democrat who is hard on crime and against deficit spending. I have no idea how he feels about Unions, but I know with absolute certainty that the unions prefered his opponent.

[AllentownJake]

14. So he's a Republican nt.

[CBR]

6. Thom, I was reading an article about the race that

Mollohan was being attacked by anti-abortion and pro-king coal groups. What are the democratic positions of the guy who won, if any?

[MadAnne]

8. Oliverio

Oliverio is considered to be a conservative Democrat and has espoused issues such as reducing the national debt. He identifies as pro-life and is opposed to abortion rights. He also supports an amendment to the West Virginia Constitution to ban gay marriage.

Along with Delegate Jonathan Miller, a Republican, he serves as the state co-chair of the American Legislative Exchange Council, a group which that seeks "to advance the Jeffersonian principles of free markets, limited government, federalism, and individual liberty". Oliverio was also thanked in a 2006 speech by President George W. Bush for his assistance in securing the confirmation of Samuel Alito to the United States Supreme Court. Bush said, "I appreciate Senator Michael Oliverio, he's here. Mike I think did the country a great service when he worked on behalf of Judge Sam Alito to get him confirmed by the United States Senate. I appreciate your -- I want to thank you for that, Mike."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/5/11/865660/-A-Republican-is-winning-(has-won)-the-Dem-primary-in-WV-1

[CBR]

12. Thanks MadAnne. Sounds like a teabag platform.

Ugh -- I love my home state. Maybe I should move back.

[LynneSin]

13. Sounds like we have a wolf in sheep's clothing with this one

Was he ever really a democrat or just posing as one to unseat the current democrat.

I think Mollohon should run as an independant. He can go back to the dem part after he is re=elected.

[ThomWV]

15. Anti-choice and pro-coal

[spinbaby]

7. Wasn't it you that posted about how Mollohan was a shoe in?

I think it was just yesterday that you were saying Morgantown was plastered with Mollohan signs? The Morgantown I knew 30 years ago was pretty liberal--can't believe they went for Whatshisname.

[Lyric]

10. The Oliverios are a "big" family in Morgantown.

Frankly, it didn't surprise me at all.

[spinbaby]

18. Doesn't ring a bell

But it's been 30 years since I've lived in Morgantown.

[Lyric]

20. Big Mike Oliverio was the county clerk for a LONG time.

He's been a pillar of the community for as long as I can remember. Their extended family also owns a small chain of well-known, somewhat high-end Italian restaurants in this area (Oliverio's) as well as a food company based in Clarksburg that produces canned peppers, olive oil, and sauces for home Italian cooking. Everyone here knows about the Oliverios. I don't know if that was true 30 years ago, but it's been true as long as I can personally remember, and I am 30 years old.

[ThomWV]

16. That was me - and its why you saw the apology post at about 6:30am

[BurtWorm]

9. Did the mining disasters have anything to do with it?

I mean sometimes people wake up to what mean bastards there are on the right, mean bastards who support the fuckers who don't care if their workers live or die.

[Lyric]

11. Calling Mollohan the "more liberal" candidate is funny.

He's more liberal than Oliverio in the same way that Samuel Alito is more liberal than Antonin Scalia. In other words, not by much. Sadly, Rudy Giuliani is probably more of a liberal Democrat than either of those two schmucks. If there was ever an election where there really weren't any good choices, this one was it. The fact is, neither of them are solid, reliable Democrats on any issue except organized labor, and even then, it's more about lip service than actual support. They call themselves Democrats because they want the votes of union miners who have a long history of supporting whoever the "D" candidate might be.

I was born and raised in Morgantown. I live here still, right on University Avenue. I've met "Little Mike" (as Oliverio is called) and my Mom has known "Big Mike", his Dad, for years. It's a shame that the son can't be more like the father. Big Mike's a good man, and a good Democrat. His son is one of those people who'll do anything, say anything, compromise any previously stated value, just for the sake of getting elected. I wrote a LTTE to the Dominionist Post a few weeks back about how tired I am of never having any liberal choices in our national elections here. I complained then that it sickens me to have to choose between one liberal-hating, anti-gay, anti-choice DINO and another. I still feel that way now.

[ButterflyBlood]

17. Mollohan wasn't actually that bad outside of some issues

Yeah he was pro-life and pro-gun, very culturally conservative. But he was also pro-union and pretty strong on economic issues. Voted for HCR that this right wing DINO campaigned against. A real shame.

[Lyric]

19. We'll have to agree to disagree on Mollohan's support of HCR.

I don't see it as a particularly liberal piece of legislation, and Mollohan refused to support it until after Obama signed that anti-woman executive order. He was part of Stupak's DINO, woman-hating gang. As for his being "pro-union"--there actually aren't that many union mines left in West Virginia, thanks to Massey. Mollohan is more pro-winning than pro-union. He'd say whatever he needed to say to win, and if that meant giving an occasional pity vote to unions while voting against health and safety regulations for coal mine emissions, then you could count on Mollohan to do it. For example, he co-sponsored the Employee Free Choice Act (which didn't actually pass, how convenient) but voted AGAINST regulating greenhouse gas emissions--i.e., methane, the stuff that killed all those miners down in Upper Big Branch.

http://wtrf.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=76263&catid=182

Oliverio is even worse, so I'm pretty much hopeless for the future.