Manchin Joins Obama For Energy Event

Gov. Joe Manchin and 15 of his Democratic counterparts attended a meeting in Chicago last week where their party's nominee for president, Barack Obama, held forth on energy issues.

Among other stances, Obama " said he would invest $150 billion over the next 10 years to create green jobs, particularly in the automotive industry and to improve the electricity grid so people can drive plug-in hybrid vehicles," The Associated Press reported.

He also promised the governors "a plan to spend billions in taxpayer dollars to build roads, bridges and other infrastructure projects that could create jobs and improve transportation routes," the AP article said.

When Obama said the latter proposal could start creating jobs within three months, Manchin was quoted as responding that "I think we could put a lot of people back to work in one month. We're ready."

The Republican National Committee quoted state GOP Chairman Doug McKinney to criticize Manchin for his attendance, while also identifying the governor as "Jim." The Washington Post's "The Trail" blog also flubbed his name.