Conventional wisdom is that Republicans are guaranteed a Senate pickup in West Virginia, where Sen. Jay Rockafeller’s retirement has created an open-seat race in this reddening state. While I wouldn’t peg the GOP’s chances at 100 percent, it’s certainly hard to see a legit path to Democratic victory.
But if it’s such a gimme, why are the Kochs working hard to suppress the vote?
West Virginia Secretary of State Natalie Tennant attacked Americans for Prosperity, a conservative nonprofit backed by billionaires Charles and David Koch, on Tuesday for distributing “misleading” and “confusing” voter registration mailings, according to the Associated Press.The leaflets, sent out to at least eight different counties, warned residents that if they did not update their voter registration before April 22, they could become ineligible to vote in the upcoming May 13 election. The mailer also included a voter registration card and prepaid envelope.
Americans for Prosperity claims that it’s just a generic non-partisan voter registration effort. Yet one of the counties mentioned, Marion, is among the more Democratic ones, giving Sen. Joe Manchin a 64-33 victory margin. And while President Barack Obama lost every county in the state in 2012, Marion’s 42 percent was among his best showing.
There’s also Berkeley and Jefferson Counties, both part of the DC metro area, among the fastest-growing in the state, and among the state’s most Democratic. In fact, Jefferson gave Obama his best showing in the state with 47 percent.
So AFP is innocently trying to goose voter registration in the state’s most Democratic regions? How helpful of them! And how full of shit, too.
