Today is a day of decision all over West Virginia. Hundreds of offices are up for election this year. They range from local positions to offices of national significance.
Although participation is expected to drop from last year's presidential election, this year could see a lot more voters than a normal off year primary election.
Most years see the primary as a pretty unexciting affair. Usually only one Republican steps up to run in most legislative and congressional elections. Democratic incumbents face few strong challengers from within their own party. The entrenched nature of the Democratic machine in West Virginia has produced a one party state for many years. Primary 2010 may be a sign of things to come.
West Virginia has always been a one party state. Democrats or Republicans usually control state politics for decades at a time. We have seen very few years in which a viable opposition party has existed. The switches from the dominance of one party to the other usually come quickly as a response to national party shifts. West Virginians generally agree on issues and will vote with a party and for individuals that represent them best, as far as they are concerned, anyway. Republicans are definitely pushing into position to challenge Democrats at least as a viable opposition, if not political supremacy a few years from now. Vigorous primaries on the Republican side, the retirement of the state GOP's debt and emergence of a new vision, and the weakening hold of the state Democratic Party thanks to Obama and Pelosi have all contributed to these developments.
To continue moving forward, we must win elections. The First Congressional District is a key example. We are not used to acrimonious primaries for this position because few people in the past have desired to challenge Alan Mollohan. He is not a dead incumbent walking, but he is also not indestructable. To beat Mollohan we need all Republicans behind whichever candidate wins nomination Tuesday. With the large field, it is wide open. However since all the candidates basically agree on the same issues, the attacks focused not on ideology, but personality. In short, it got ugly and fast.
On Wednesday the candidates need to have a conference call and pledge support for the Republican nominee. They need to appear together, shake hands before the cameras, smile, and congratulate the winner. Sure there will be hurt feelings and resentment for how these campaigns operated. You can't just shake off the accusations and anger privately, but all must unite behind the cause. We need a Republican to represent the First Congressional District. We can only win if everyone enthusiastically gets behind the nominee, whomever that may be.
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