The senate campaign for West Virginia has descended into a who-is-less-like-Obama contest, a situation which may alienate many Democrats in the state.
Joe Manchin, the Democratic candidate has spent much of the campaign assuring his rival John Raese that he is not in the President’s pocket, and trying to outline all their differences in policy. However the attempts by Manchin to distance himself from the President may backfire and alienate Democratic voters.
The more Raese tries to pin the two together, the more Manchin goes out of his way to keep a distance, so much so, that sometimes he appears to be rooting for the other team:
“I’ll take on Washington and this administration to get the federal government off of our backs and out of our pockets,” said Manchin. “I’ll cut federal spending and I’ll repeal the bad parts of Obamacare. I sued EPA and I’ll take dead aim at the cap-and-trade bill. Because it’s bad for West Virginia.”
Some voters are wondering, with all the anti-Obama rhetoric, why should they vote for Democrats if even their Democratic candidate is running in circles to try and distance himself.
Perhaps realizing, a little too late, that his efforts to un-paint himself as an Obama-ite have been off putting Manchin said: “Every time that we hit bottom, it’s the Democrats that stood up and helped people, the average person, people struggling to make it, people trying to take care of their families. I believe very strongly in that, but I’m more of a centrist and in fiscal matters, I am conservative on fiscal matters.”
