Governor Joe Manchin says he's running in the election he didn't want to hold but will since he was kind of forced to.

Apparently the best hope for the Republicans in this race would be Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito who blasted the temporary appointment of Mancin aide Carte Goodwin to temporarily fill the seat.

"Based on the person chosen from the rumored field of candidates to fill the U.S. Senate vacancy on an interim basis, it is once again evident that political ambition was the key factor in the selection," Capito said in a statement.

"Governor Manchin followed the same path as Florida Governor Charlie Crist did last August when he appointed his former staffer for the sole purpose of protecting his own desire to run for the U.S. Senate seat."

Goodwin was sworn in today and will provide the 60th vote to pass another unemployment insurance extension (thanks to the Maine sisters help).

While Capito is the best hope the Republicans have in W. Virginia it's not clear if she'll run because she'd have to give up her House seat to wage what, at this point, looks like a losing battle against Manchin.

In other Senate election news...take a look at the RCP Senate board. Of the 23 seats being contested this year, only 4 are likely or leaning Democratic. 10 are rated as toss-ups and the rest are likely or leaning Republican.

Unfortunately, there's some bad news for the GOP in the most recent polling.

Sharron Angle appears to be steadily losing ground to Harry Reid. It's obviously way too early to write this off but she appears to be getting very little traction with independents. You can beat them all you want but they get too vote and few candidates win without a healthy chuck of them.

Angle's unfavorable rating, meanwhile, jumped by double digits -- from 25 percent in early June to 43 percent now -- while her favorable rating is now 33 percent compared with 38 percent last month.

"I was surprised how quickly and how effectively the Reid campaign came out against her after the primary," said Eric Herzik, political science professor at the University of Nevada, Reno. "I think Angle got caught off guard. Harry Reid didn't give her any breathing time, so she got defined as 'wacky Sharron.' "

As a result, Angle lost support across the board in July compared with early June:

■ Among men, Angle fell from 50 percent support to 41 percent now.

■ Among women, 38 percent to 33 percent.

■ Among Democrats, 12 percent to 8 percent.

■ Among Republicans, 81 percent to 70 percent.

■ Among independents, 41 percent to 35 percent.

An 11 percent drop with Republicans? That's either an outlier or she's likely doomed.

Giving some hope on the outlier front, left leaning PPP has a poll out today showing Angle "only" down by 2 to Reid.

The most loathsome candidate, Charlie "What do you want me to say to get elected" Crist, is leading the field.

3 months is an eternity in politics and summer habits can skew polls so no need to panic, just keep a healthy respect that nothing is in the bag yet.

On the upside, Boxer, Murray and Feingold look like they are in real fights. God, it would be great to get rid of all 3 of them. Hell, I'm not greedy, getting rid of 2 of 3 would require a pudding dip.

Posted by: DrewM at 11:15 AM | Comments (81)
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Moe Lane ID'd him.

Mike Griffing was CNAÂ’s 2009 Director of Collective Bargaining, with a salary of just under $164K. I was not aware that you could make this kind of money by going to anti-Whitman rallies and sneak-attacking people who have had the effrontery to put you and your group on the public record! Clearly we all picked the wrong career path.

You know, I don't want to encourage violence, but these guys with cameras have to start bringing their bigger buddies. At some point someone needs their teeth loosened up.

Thanks to J.

Posted by: Ace at 10:08 AM | Comments (251)
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Ah of course.

Spence Ackerman told her to say that. (Drew's idea: Any mention of racism should be answered with "Did Spence Ackerman tell you to make that up?")

ROBERTS: Miss Sherrod, let's make it clear though, that this happened 24 years ago. You eventually worked with this white farmer. You eventually became friends, you say, with the farmer and his wife.

SHERROD: Yes.

ROBERTS: So, the question I have is, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture came to you and said you have to step down, why didn't you just say, wait a minute, you don't know the full story. Here's the full story, why should I step down?

SHERROD: I did say that, but they, for some reason, the stuff that Fox and the Tea Party does is scaring the administration. I told them get the whole tape and look at the whole tape and look at how I tell people we have to get beyond race and start working together.

ROBERTS: Many people at home might be thinking if you're recounting an old story, why did you succumb to pressure to step down, why didn't you fight this?

SHERROD: If I tried to fight it and didn't have any support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, what would I do?

CHETRY: Let me ask you this. Did you talk to the NAACP about it because I just want to read from our audience what Ben Jealous, the president said. He said referring to you and this surfacing of the tape, "her actions were shameful. While she went on to explain in the story, she ultimately realized her mistake as well as the common predicament of working people of all races. She gave no indication she'd attempted to right the wrong she had done to this man. And the reaction from many in the audience is disturbing."

This is from Ben Jealous. Did you try to clarify with the NAACP your story?

SHERROD: No, I haven't had had a chance to talk to anyone. All of this was happening so fast. And it's unfortunate that the NAACP would make a statement without even checking to see what happened. This was 24 years ago, and I'm telling a story to try to unite people with that now.

And yes, as many note, it's the reaction of the crowd that is most interesting.

Posted by: Ace at 08:41 AM | Comments (351)
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Lindsay Graham was the only Republican voting yes.

As I said on Twitter....I really wish it were Graham that Alvin Greene was up against this year. I'd donate to Greene in that case.

Meanwhile, Tom Coburn lays out part of the case against Kagan(link added)....

The hearings, though, were not merely about Elena Kagan per se but about the political culture and philosophy that shaped her views. Her answers exposed profound flaws in the prevailing Big Government wisdom of the Supreme Court and Washington over the past few decades.

When I asked Kagan whether the Constitution gave Congress the authority to tell people to eat their fruits and vegetables, she answered with appropriate humor. “That would be a dumb law,” she quipped. True enough. Her response was humorous because the underlying premise is absurd both as a matter of common sense and law. Of course, Kagan and everyone else knew I was asking a proxy question about the new health law’s individual mandate and the founder’s intent regarding the Commerce Clause.

What is less humorous is the fact that as a Supreme Court justice, she would signal that Congress does in fact have the right to tell people what to eat and, by implication, whether to buy health insurance. With Kagan on the Court, Congress and the executive branch may succeed at sweeping away whatever limitations remain on its power to micromanage the decisions of states and individuals.

Posted by: DrewM at 08:37 AM | Comments (62)
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Too hot for the sidebar.

How the "racist" sausage gets made.

Katha Pollitt – Hayes’s colleague at the Nation – didn’t disagree on principle, though she did sound weary of the propaganda. “I hear you. but I am really tired of defending the indefensible. The people who attacked Clinton on Monica were prissy and ridiculous, but let me tell you it was no fun, as a feminist and a woman, waving aside as politically irrelevant and part of the vast rightwing conspiracy Paula, Monica, Kathleen, Juanita,” Pollitt said.

“Part of me doesn’t like this shit either,” agreed Spencer Ackerman, then of the Washington Independent. “But what I like less is being governed by racists and warmongers and criminals.”

Ackerman went on:

I do not endorse a Popular Front, nor do I think you need to. ItÂ’s not necessary to jump to Wright-qua-WrightÂ’s defense. What is necessary is to raise the cost on the right of going after the left. In other words, find a rightwingerÂ’s [sic] and smash it through a plate-glass window. Take a snapshot of the bleeding mess and send it out in a Christmas card to let the right know that it needs to live in a state of constant fear. Obviously I mean this rhetorically.

And I think this threads the needle. If the right forces us all to either defend Wright or tear him down, no matter what we choose, we lose the game they’ve put upon us. Instead, take one of them — Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares — and call them racists. Ask: why do they have such a deep-seated problem with a black politician who unites the country? What lurks behind those problems? This makes *them* sputter with rage, which in turn leads to overreaction and self-destruction.

Ackerman did allow there were some Republicans who weren’t racists. “We’ll know who doesn’t deserve this treatment — Ross Douthat, for instance — but the others need to get it.” He also said he had begun to implement his plan. “I previewed it a bit on my blog last week after Commentary wildly distorted a comment Joe Cirincione made to make him appear like (what else) an antisemite. So I said: why is it that so many on the right have such a problem with the first viable prospective African-American president?”

And that was the media's actual attitude, wasn't it? They mentioned it begrudgingly, but then sought to penalize those asking questions as racists, or suspiciously unwilling to let go of old racial grievances, didn't they?

The defense will be made, and it's true to some extent, that the people engaging in these racist strategy sessions are mainly out-and-proud lefties, and so this doesn't say anything about the broader MFM.

But it does -- because the broader MFM may not have been commenting -- too careful to weigh in like that and leave tracks -- but their representatives were reading. And they seemed to be of like minds.

In the midst of this collaborative enterprise, Holly Yeager, now of the Columbia Journalism Review, dropped into the conversation to say “be sure to read” a column in that day’s Washington Post that attacked the debate.

And I don't see the Daily Caller noting any MFM types making a defense of ABC's coverage of the bona fide story.

Posted by: Ace at 06:45 AM | Comments (405)
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Tell them all I know now; shout it from the rooftops.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:06 AM | Comments (194)
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The Awesomest Thing You'll Probably See Tonight

Among other reasons this is why you do not taunt happy fun Grandma.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 05:43 PM | Comments (1033)
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One interesting snippet has emerged from this. When the original emails were released I reported on an inquiry made to Lord Oxburgh by Oliver Morton of the Economist about how Oxburgh's Eleven papers were chosen. When he replied, Oxburgh said in essence that he didn't know.

What I received was a list [of papers to examine for candor and rigor] from the university which I understand was chosen by the Royal Society The contact with the RS was I believe through [name redacted] but I don't know who he consulted. [Name redacted], when I asked him, agreed that the original sample was fair.

Well, now we know who the redactions were. The contact through with the Royal Society was through Martin Rees - we knew that already. The other redaction, the other person consulted about whether the sample of papers was reasonable, was...Phil Jones.

Now, whichever way you look at it, this is a funny question to put to the accused if one's objective is a fair trial. I mean, what could Jones say? "You've picked all my bad papers"? And of course Jones must have known that the sample was not representative.

Thanks to Soylent Green.

Posted by: Ace at 03:15 PM | Comments (237)
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The only thing here is that the media is gun-stupid, and likes to say "automatic" weapon when they mean semi-automatic.

Still.

Cause of the latest, erm, protests? A YOUIEE was killed by police after having robbed a casino.

Posted by: Ace at 02:03 PM | Comments (170)
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Because sometimes, one just isn't enough.

Today marks the 6 month anniversary of Christie's inauguration and he's celebrating with a victory video.

Hmmmm....no Momma Bears in sight but it's still pretty good.

On Friday some asked why Christie is mentioned as '12 contender will so little time in office and Palin is still dismissed by some as not having enough experience.

My $.02...

First, it's a fair point, 6 months isn't enough experience. On the other hand...'12 is a year and a half away.

Second, Alaska is small (by population and budget) conservative state. New Jersey is much larger and much more liberal. Playing the successful bad ass conservative there requires a greater degree of difficulty.

After Friday's Mitt/Palin back and forth I really hope we have someone other than '08 rewinds to chose from in '12. Not sure I'm sold on Christie yet (mostly because the last governor I was kind of interested in looking at was Mark Sandford and that didn't work out well) but he makes a hell of a first impression.

I'm not sure this video was inspired by Palin's but you have to give her credit for showing the way in how to utilize new media to get attention and to communicate over the heads of the MFM. While a lot of people laugh at her, a lot more will be going to school on what she does.

UPDATE: As long as we're talking about 2012, Paul Ryan says he's not running and talks up Mitch Daniels. Mike Pence's very presidential hair has not weighed in on the subject.

FTR- As I wrote in the comments, I don't think Christie is going to run in '12. I just like the idea of a someone like him (combative, effective, conservative) being the standard against which others are measured.

As a bonus, I'll add the best Christie moment but one he didn't include (for obvious reasons) in his governing highlight reel. more...

Posted by: DrewM at 12:51 PM | Comments (199)
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