GOP fears another potential electoral disaster

[DonViejo]

The national GOP is flummoxed over what to do about the surging candidacy of coal baron and ex-con Don Blankenship.

By ALEX ISENSTADT 03/20/2018 05:00 AM EDT

National Republicans — on the heels of the Roy Moore and Rick Saccone debacles — worry they’re staring down their latest potential midterm election fiasco: coal baron and recent federal prisoner Don Blankenship.

With Blankenship skyrocketing in the West Virginia Republican Senate primary and blanketing the airwaves with ads assailing his fractured field of rivals as career politicians, senior party officials are wrestling with how, or even whether, to intervene. Many of them are convinced that Blankenship, who served a one-year sentence after the deadly 2010 explosion at his Upper Big Branch Mine, would be a surefire loser against Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin — and potentially become a national stain for the party.

The discussions have intensified over the past few weeks. During separate meetings with the National Republican Senatorial Committee, aides to Blankenship’s two primary opponents, Rep. Evan Jenkins and state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, pointed to Blankenship’s traction and questioned what could be done to stop him. The Senate GOP campaign arm, which heard out the appeals, recently commissioned a survey to gauge the coal king’s electoral strength and determine his staying power in the race.

Those familiar with the party’s deliberations say the results are clear: With a little more than a month until the May 8 primary, Blankenship, a towering figure in West Virginia politics long before this campaign and an avid opponent of unions, has vaulted into essentially a three-way tie with his rivals and is positioned to move ahead.

more
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/20/west-virginia-senate-republicans-blankenship-472050

[Lochloosa]

1. I would offer them advice but....

NOT

[OnDoutside]

2. Interesting that David jolly gave a piece of advice to fellow Republicans..."and if you lose your

seat, it's not the end of the world. Come in, the water's warm !"

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. "Blankenships allies insist that any comparison to Moore is unfair" - Blankenship went to jail

and his crime involved death. Different, but a comparison is fair, I think.

Repubs are reaping what they've sown - a man convicted over the death of coal miners has the money to persuade gullible RWers that he has the moral high ground over career politicians. If they hadn't spent decades bashing politicians, and ensuring multi-millionaires like him could get obscenely rich, they wouldn't have this problem.

Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship was paid $17.8 million last year even as some of the coal mines he supervised accumulated safety violations and injuries at rates that greatly exceed national rates.

That 2009 pay represents a $6.8 million raise over 2008 and almost double his compensation package in 2007.

Blankenship also has a deferred compensation package valued at $27.2 million at the end of last year.
...
An analysis conducted by NPR News found that 10 of Massey's coal mines had injury rates in 2009 that exceeded the national rate. Miners in four of those mines, including Upper Big Branch, were injured at rates more than double the national rate. The 10 mines together received 2,400 federal safety violation citations last year.

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126072828&ps=cprs