Republicans are reportedly in the midst of drawing up an incentive package that could potentially convince West Virginia Senator-elect Joe Manchin, currently the state’s conservative Democratic governor, to jump ship and place an “R” next to his name.
I doubt he’ll switch unless Republicans can get three others to switch so they get a majority. And that won’t happen.
Bubblegum Tate
Something about the phrase “drawing up an incentive package” is funny to me. Does this mean they’re busting out the high-class hookers and premium blow?
Hunter Gathers
This won’t happen, but the ManChin is still going to be the biggest douchebag Dem Senator east of the Mississippi.
meh
this is salt in the wounds to fuck with the Democrats. We did the same shit with Charlie Crist, Arlen Specter and the bopsie twins in Maine. Ain’t nothin gonna come of it. Specter was a spineless self-interested douchebag – manchin has slightly more spine.
Mike Kay (Team America)
I thought the repugs were against CornhuskerKickBacks.
That’s the way the blogosphere should play this one, calling them out on “back room deal making”, “politics as usual”,
“pay to play”, “buying influence”, “CarbonKickbacks”, etc.
Mike Kay (Team America)
another thing, someone should remind Manchin the teabaggers don’t like converts. Alabama blue-dog Parker Griffith switched parties early this year to no avail, the teabaggers took him out in the primary, even though he was an incumbent.
SlyFox
Damn, Mitch McConnell REALLY wants to be Senate Majority Leader, doesn’t he?
Sentient Puddle
What are they going to do if he doesn’t switch, run Shelley Moore Capito against him?
Yeah, this is a bullshit story.
she thinks i still care
Genius headline.
No way he goes.
Mike Kay (Team America)
I really wish Democrats and at the very least bloggers would develop narratives and use slogans.
If the Dems were openly attempting to poach a new Senator, the right wing message would be: “they’re trying to steal an election”, “they’re blocking the will of the people”, “this is a high-tech coup”, “it’s a power grab”, “they’re stabbing the hard working (code for white) voters of West Virgina in the back”, “the Dems are playing Manchin 30 pieces of silver”, “this is just what Hitler and Stalin did to consolidate power”.
It’s a shame for too long people on our side have felt above mudslinging.
Well, let me correct that. Dems have never had a problem throwing mud at elected Dems.
themann1086
Manchin has more influence as a conservative Democrat from a conservative state than he would as a moderate Republican from a conservative state. Self-interest alone means he’ll stay.
catclub
Manchin, Lieberman, Landrieu, Nelson
Does that look like ‘not gonna happen’ to you?
and Noting Mike Kay @ 5:
So, six years as a Committee Chairman, then on to a lobbying job with better pay, sounds pretty sweet. Never have to raise funds for a second election run.
daveNYC
They’d only need two more, Joe Lieberman, remember?
Mike Kay (Team America)
@SlyFox:
Corporations will shower him with hawter Rent-Boys as Majority Leader.
Bill Arnold
Out of curiously, are there any reports of the Democrats seeking Republican (or Independent) defections? E.g. one of the Maine Senators, or Lisa Murkowski, or Scott Brown?
fasteddie9318
They had Lieberman and Nelson at “hello.” That only leaves one left to get.
The more I think about this the more I think I wouldn’t mind if it happened. Democrats can still filibuster and veto the really bad stuff the wingers pass, and with a GOP Senate there’s no blame-sharing in two years when nothing gets done and the country’s still circling the drain.
Mike Kay (Team America)
@catclub: that’s not gonna work in the teabagger era, especially in a small state.
Just look at Delaware. Mike Castle was a popular ex-two-term Governor and the state’s only congressman for 18 years, with a boat load of money, yet he was ousted in the senate primary.
the teabaggers aren’t gonna except transplants. Especially anyone who voted for obamacare.
Napoleon
@Bill Arnold:
No, but this is one of the rare situations where the Dems are smarter then the Reps and keep their mouths shut.
themann1086
@fasteddie9318: Nelson is in the same position Manchin is. More power as a conservative Democrat, etc. Party switches usually only happen with major realignments or in an effort to save their job.
catclub
@Mike Kay (Team America):
I am not clear on what is not going to work. I thought I made it clear that I understood they would have no chance in a GOP primary, hence would not even run for re-election,
and go straight to lobbying work.
Joseph Nobles
I read somewhere that a Manchin “adviser” basically said to call Manchin in two years. He’s got to be D for two years.
Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle
@fasteddie9318: Nelson isn’t going to happen. Nelson is up in ’12, and the Nebraska AG(who is a Puke) has already come out and said he’s running against Nelson.
Scott
Has anyone ever run for election, won, and then switched parties before they were sworn in? I can’t imagine any candidate doing that, but it’d be fascinating to see if that had ever happened…
Zandar
Yeah, I already called Haunted Manchin some time ago. :)
Chris G
The dynamics of the GOP in 2010 are such that no party-switcher could possibly survive a primary challenge from a teabagger, and the teabaggers are such that the party establishment can’t control them. The teabaggers just cost the GOP control of the Senate and their response is that it’s the rest of the party’s fault for not insufficiently supporting Christine O’Donnell.
Sentient Puddle
And Christ, why do people keep talking like Nelson and Lieberman are going to switch parties? They both came out after the election and said they aren’t. Less unsourced speculative sky-is-falling bullshit, please.
David in NY
Doesn’t anyone here (cough, cough) come from West Virginia? What would they think?
Bill Arnold
In New York, we recently had a 2-person party switch in the State Senate that flipped control to the Republicans. It didn’t last long (though it looks like the Reps won back control in the Nov 2, 2010 election), but it was something of a surprise.
pking
@Scott: I don’t know about the U.S., but it has happended in Canada. David Emerson, a minister in the Paul Martin Liberal government, defected to the Stephen Harper’s Tories when Harper won a minority government in 2006 (ctv.ca/CTVNews/CTVNewsAt11/20060206/emerson_defection_060206/)
Turgidson
@Sentient Puddle:
In Lieberman’s case, I’d probably feel more confident of his intention to stay in the Dem caucus if he’d come out and immediately said he’s switching parties. I don’t trust a fucking word that guy says anymore.
FlipYrWhig
@Scott:
That would be the biggest stab in the back in the history of political stabs in the back. If the Republicans wanted a Republican Senator Manchin, they should have proposed that option to him before they ran a candidate against him who damaged his popularity. And, as everyone else is pointing out, conservative Democrats have some fucking clout, while all Republicans just take orders from leadership.
Splitting Image
@pking:
Just fixing a little pet peeve of mine. The Conservatives aren’t Tories any more than Jim DeMint is a Rockefeller Republican. They want the label badly because they need the legitimacy that the connection with the old Progressive Conservative party gives them.
Professor
Ask John Cole, he should know. Afterall he voted for him!
Triassic Sands
I agree with catclub above. Although I doubt seriously that it will happen, the names he offers seem far from impossible.
On the other hand, changing parties right after you’ve been elected is a dicey proposition. For that reason, I would think Manchin would be the least likely to switch.
Lieberman is free to be and do anything he wants — he won as an independent. He’ll be a weasel no matter which party he’s in.
The voting records of both Nelson and Landrieu are far from Republican and there really isn’t much incentive for them to switch, since they are already in the majority. It’s hard to imagine Republican leadership treating them better than the Democratic leadership has.
McConnell may have his hands full already with some of the new senators (especially if Miller pulls it out in Alaska). Would he really want to have four senators joining him from the left?