(A) McCain in West Virginia

Joe McCain, a brother of the Republican presidential nominee, was slated to headline the Fayette County GOP's Lincoln Day Dinner on Thursday. MetroNews had a preview.

ARG: Obama 50%, McCain 42% in West Virginia

American Research Group's Oct. 4-8 survey of 600 likely voters may be the first poll to find Obama ahead in West Virginia.

Five percent (corrected figure) were undecided, and the margin of error was +/- 4%. The probability was 97.98%.

Among the findings:

• 54% of women favored Obama (vs. 36% for McCain);
• 49% of men favored McCain (vs. 46% for Obama);
• McCain had a slightly larger margin of Republicans than Obama did Democrats (79% to 76%);
• Obama edged out McCain among independents, 50% to 38%.

"(A)n especially odd result," observes Political Wire.

Quote of the Day

"We endorsed the governor four years ago when it really made a difference. At this point it looks like he will be reelected and we will continue to have a relationship with him."

-- West Virginia Education Association President Dale Lee, explaining to MetroNews why the teachers' group has declined to endorse his bid for a second term.

W.Va. and the Financial Crisis, Cont'd

• The latest review of state finances by the Rockefeller Institute of Government shows that "West Virginia has bucked the national economic calamity, and has actually led the nation in economic growth since May," The Charleston Gazette reports.

• A canvass of West Virginia's 53 state-chartered banks found that seven are poised to lose a combined $12.4 million from Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac stock, "but those soured investments were spread around and the banks remain well-capitalized," the Charleston Daily Mail reports.

• MetroNews gets an overview of the bailout's potential effects from Marshall University Vice President of Business and Economic Research Doctor Cal Kent. With audio.
  

Election 2008 Roundup

• The West Virginia Education Association has declined to endorse the re-election bid of Gov. Joe Manchin, though the teachers' group has also decided not to back his GOP opponent, either, MetroNews reports. The item notes that the WVEA had been the first major labor group to announce for Manchin in 2004, but that the governor "lashed out" at it during the fight over teacher pay raises earlier this year. With audio.

• Public Broadcasting has separate interviews with Democrat Natalie Tennant and Republican Charles Minimah in the Secretary of State's race, and also offers audio of the former broadcaster and the Charleston business owner.

• GOP agriculture commission candidate Mike Teets talks to The Intelligencer of Wheeling.

• State Democratic officials tell The Charleston Gazette that "Sen. Hillary Clinton's visit to Charleston Friday to endorse 2nd Congressional District nominee Anne Barth will be a boost for everyone on the ticket."

• The Journal of Martinsburg hears from Republican Bob Adams in the 16th District state Senate race.
  

Byrd Goes to Nashville

Sen. Robert C. Byrd received the "Dr. Perry Harris Award" during the Grand Master Fiddler Championship in Nashville over the weekend. A former longtime player who once perfomed on Hee Haw, the West Virginia Democrat was handed the award by colleague Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., whose staff posted the video.

Hillary Clinton Returning to W.Va.

Sen. Hillary Clinton is throwing her support behind fellow Democrat Anne Barth, planning to stump for the 2nd District congressional challenger Friday in Charleston, The Associated Press reports.

Clinton is slated to appear on Barth's behalf at an open event at the University of Charleston. As AP notes, she "last visited West Virginia just before her overwhelming win in the state's May presidential primary."

The former first lady defeated Barack Obama in that contest, but has since gotten behind his nomination. Update: The Charleston Gazette adds comments from "Tom Vogel, who heads Obama's presidential campaign in West Virginia," and who "said he wasn't sure how much Clinton would stump for Obama during her visit."

Lobbyist Spending on W.Va. Legislature Reaches $318k

Coca-Cola footed the hotel bill while House Speaker Rick Thompson, D-Wayne, attended NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 in May, and Chesapeake Energy Corp. spent nearly $118 per person on a July dinner for Thompson, Senate President Earl Tomblin, D-Logan, other lawmakers and their spouses, according to lobbyist spending reports scrutinized by The Charleston Gazette.

W.Va. Ad Disclosure Law Remains Under Fire

West Virginians for Life has joined the fight against reporting requirements for independent election-time political ads, The Charleston Gazette and others report.

The group has filed a separate federal lawsuit from the one launched earlier this year by the Center for Individual Freedom. The newer challenge seeks a judge's order blocking, at least temporarily, the spending disclosure provisions that became state law Oct. 1.

"James Bopp Jr., an Indiana lawyer who is representing (WVFL), said the new law limits his client's rights to free speech because it is afraid to publicize former state Supreme Court Justice Margaret Workman's authorship of a 1993 ruling that made the state pay for abortions for Medicaid recipients," The Gazette reported.

"We're objecting to being regulated in any way by this law," Bopp told that newspaper. "We don't want to be prohibited, we don't want to file [financial] reports, we don't want to do anything under this law."

The Times-West Virginian of Fairmont and The Associated Press also have items.

Election 2008: Legislature

Democrats running for the Legislature enjoy a three-to-one margin both for money raised and cash on hand over their GOP rivals for the last campaign finance filing period, an analysis by The Associated Press shows.

"Reports posted by the Secretary of State's office show legislative candidates collected more than $600,000 between May 26 and Sept. 21," the article said. "With most campaigns reporting cash left over from the primary, spending during the filing period left a collective balance of more than $1.5 million."

The Journal of Martinsburg, meanwhile, takes a closer look at the finance reports of Eastern Panhandle legislative hopefuls.

FSU to Host National Pundits

Bay Buchannon, political commentator and sister of Pat, will debate nationally syndicated columnist and radio host Roland S. Martin 7 p.m. Monday at the Turley Center Ballroom of Fairmont State University. The Times-West Virginian has additional details.

They Voted For You: The Bailout, Revised

U.S. Reps. Alan Mollohan, D-1st, and Nick Rahall, D-3rd, voted for the Senate-passed version of "historic legislation providing $700 billion in government money to bring stability to reeling financial markets," as The Associated Press reports.

Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-2nd, opposed the measure, which prevailed 263-171.

AP reports that before the vote, "Member after member went to the well of the chamber to voice discomfort and displeasure with many aspects of the bailout legislation. But they also said said they would vote for it anyway. And nearly 30 who voted against it on Monday said they had changed their minds."

Update: Capito was among 108 Republicans to vote against the bill. They were joined by 63 Democrats.

Update II: President Bush signed the measure Friday. Those with coverage include Public Broadcasting (with audio), The Charleston Gazette and MetroNews.

Revisiting The Bailout: Update

Under debate in the House, the Senate-passed version of the bailout bill "advanced past a key hurdle on a 223-205 vote" Friday, The Associated Press reports.

The roll call lists Reps. Alan Mollohan, D-1st, and Nick Rahall, D-3rd, voting for "providing for consideration of the Senate amendments." Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-2nd, voted against.

Manchin Weighing Wall Street Lawsuit

Gov. Joe Manchin tells The Associated Press that "West Virginia could end up suing investment firms at the center of the national financial crisis, and perhaps some of their former executives."

"Manchin says the firms should be held accountable if they breached their duties to shareholders," the article said. "He says the state may also target firm executives who pocketed hefty exit packages."

The state had holdings in all of the major firms that have been bought out, bailed out or bankrupted in the ongoing financial turmoil: Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, AIG and Washington Mutual.

The article also notes that these investments amount to a fraction of a percent of the state's nearly $11 billion portfolio.

In advance of Friday's possible House vote on a revised bailout package, Public Broadcasting (with audio) and MetroNews (also with audio) each hear from different West Virginia University economics professors on that proposal and the roots of the crisis.

Update: Manchin tells the Charleston Daily Mail that the "Wall Street turmoil is hampering the state's ability to raise money for a variety of needs ranging from highway projects to improvements at community and technical colleges."

U.S. House Revisits Bailout

Public Broadcasting reports that "Representative Shelley Moore Capito is signaling she may change her vote on a bailout package, as her chamber takes up the Senate-passed version (audio here).

Capito, R-2nd, has cast the sole "nay" vote among the state's five-member delegation on the bailout issue. But as The Associated Press reports, "Republicans and Democrats were jumping aboard the bailout as the House sped toward a make-or-break vote — a much-anticipated do-over after the plan met with a stunning defeat Monday, triggering a historic stock market plunge."

"It was still unclear, though, whether leaders would have the dozen or so supporters needed to pass the measure," the AP article continues.

That dispatch did not include Capito among those commenting on whether they may change their vote. She also did not appear in a roundup of House member views from Politico, or its earlier list of a dozen representatives who could help pass the revised legislation.

MetroNews hears from both Capito and Anne Barth, her Democratic challenger, in advance of Friday's expected vote.

Election 2008: Shorts

• The Mountain Party's candidate for governor, Jesse Johnson, has sued to get in on the West Virginia Broadcasters Association's gubernatorial debate set for Oct. 13, The Associated Press reports. Its 2004 nominee, "the Charleston actor and director failed four years ago in an attempt to get a court injunction to be included in that debate," AP notes. The Charleston Gazette and MetroNews also have items.

• U.S. Rep. Nick Rahall, D-3rd, weighs in on the bailout issue with The Register-Herald of Beckley.

• U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-2nd, explains her vote on the bailout issue to a Capital High School audience, The Charleston Gazette reports.

• Public Broadcasting interviews Mike Teets, the GOP nominee for agriculture commissioner. With audio.
  

They Voted For You: Bailout, Part Deux

U.S. Sens. Robert C. Byrd and Jay Rockefeller, both D-W.Va., each voted for the latest version of the $700 billion bailout/buy-in/rescue legislation sought to aid the financial services sector.

The measure prevailed 74-25. Fifteen Republicans, nine Democrats and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont voted against it. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., did not vote.

"Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, made rare appearances to cast 'aye' votes, as did Obama’s running mate, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware," The Associated Press reports.

The Senate Banking Committee has the complete text of the bill, as well as a one-page summary and a section-by-section analysis.

Though dubbed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, what passed the Senate late Wednesday also includes an "Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008," and a "Tax Extenders and Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act of 2008."

As AP explains, "senators loaded the economic rescue bill with tax breaks and other sweeteners before passing it," including "$110 billion in tax breaks for businesses and the middle class, plus a provision to raise, from $100,000 to $250,000, the cap on federal deposit insurance."

But the measure's core contains what helped kill the House version on Monday: language that "lets the government spend billions of dollars to buy bad mortgage-related securities and other devalued assets held by troubled financial institutions," the AP article said.

"In the House, leaders were working feverishly to convert enough opponents of the bill to push it through by Friday," AP also reports. "President Bush issued a statement praising the Senate’s move."

Manchin Gets Pro-Life Nod

Gov. Joe Manchin has won the backing of West Virginians for Life heading into the final month of the general election season, the Herald-Dispatch of Huntington reports.

Having a similar stance on the subject as Manchin, GOP challenger Russ Weeks has sought to raise abortion as an issue in their race. Weeks argues that the governor "has been paying 'lip service' to anti-abortion forces since taking office in 2005," The Associated Press reported earlier.

Update: The Register-Herald of Beckley reports that "Weeks is disappointed the state’s largest anti-abortion vehicle, West Virginians for Life, has snubbed him in this year’s gubernatorial election in favor of Gov. Joe Manchin."

West Virginia & Wall St.

Gov. Joe Manchin and other state leaders have planned a Wednesday press conference at the Capitol "to address concerns over the financial health of West Virginia following this week's failure of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout proposal," The Associated Press reports.

Manchin has repeatedly sought to offer assurances regarding the state's "Rainy Day" fund and its annual budget, as The Intelligencer of Wheeling, the Charleston Daily Mail, WOWK-TV and others have reported.

The executive director of West Virginia's Investment Management Board earlier told AP that the the state's diversified portfolio has helped insulate it from the woes of Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the like.

MetroNews, meanwhile, has interviewed each of the state's U.S. House members about Monday's rejected bailout bill. It offers audio of Reps. Alan Mollohan, D-1st; Shelley Moore Capito, R-2nd; and Nick Rahall, D-3rd.

The Charleston Gazette has the reaction of Democrat Anne Barth, Capito's challenger, to the current economic crisis.

Public Broadcasting (with audio) and The Intelligencer also report on the delegation's votes on the bill.

Looking ahead, AP has details of the pending Senate version of the bailout measure.

Election 2008 Roundup

• Gov. Joe Manchin has nearly $2 million on hand heading in to the final weeks of the election season, The Associated Press reports. AP has campaign finance figures for other Board of Public Works races, while both The Charleston Gazette and WSAZ-TV have items on the gubernatorial contest.

• Manchin's GOP opponent, Russ Weeks, talks to The (Shepherdstown) Observer about his campaign.

• AP also reports that while Manchin may have raised more cash, the candidates for state Supreme Court have spent more in that two-seat race. Republican Beth Walker begins the home stretch with a 2-to-1 cash advantage over both Democrats, Margaret Workman and Menis Ketchum.

• MetroNews interviewed Ketchum about that contest, and also hears from GOP agriculture commission candidate Mike Teets and (update) GOP candidate for attorney general Dan Greear (with audio).