What A Difference A Day Makes

A couple of days ago, most folks were speculating on a good and solid race between Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito and Governor Joe Manchin for the United States Senate. She, as far as I am concerned anyway, took the safe and smart decision and passed on this race, this year. Certainly she had a very strong chance of winning, but with the GOP possibly in position to take the House this year, she stands to emerge as one of the more powerful members. She publicly admits wanting the position, but is biding her time. That all being said if she lands a coveted committee position, that would be difficult to abandon with her relatively safe seat.

Yesterday we learned that former Secretary of State and congressman Ken Hechler jumped into the fray. He plans to make opposition to mountaintop removal the centerpiece of his campaign. He does not expect to win, but he is running to raise awareness of the issue.

This gives Republican contender John Raese a golden opportunity. Hechler could "steal" a large section of Manchin support. Raese was a Tea Partier before there was a Tea Party. He can also self fund to his heart's content. His staunch economic conservatism has always been seen as a liability in West Virginia, but this year the rules have changed.

Moore good times had in Charleston

Enough praise can not be given to Jeannette Wakim and Sue McKinney for the time and hard work they put in preparing the dinner to honor Shelly Moore, wife of former Governor Arch Moore, and mother of Shelley Moore Capito. The GOP fund raiser was a huge success thanks to their efforts with over 200 people in attendance. It was great to hear the stories told about Shelly and Arch, but there was one thing you couldn't escape. I'm not talking about the inescapable conversations of politics, but the values of the group in the room.

Family values are the corner stone of the Republican Party, and it was the first thing you noticed when you walked into the room. The Moore's exemplified this with 3 generations in attendance. This family has shown over the years a dedication to the people of West Virginia, but across the room other families could be seen with that same dedication. Many times mundane things that we normally ignore in our daily lives can show the strength of family. At the Marriott Saturday night is was the simple cell phone calls home to check on husbands, wives and kids that were manning the home fires that night. Family values filled the room and they are the values of most West Virginians.

The value that friendship transcends politics, one of the featured speakers of the night was Ken Hechler (D). Ken asked to be seated on the left, because he represented the left in politics, but he is a friend of the Moores serving in US Congress with Arch, and surviving as WV Secretary of State. With today's personal attacks on Republicans by the left this maybe something of a bygone era, but valued friendship was there Saturday night.

You saw the value of self reliance and honesty in the businessmen and women present, something alien to the left. I'm going to use an Alan Greenspan quote here because he said it so well, "Capitalism is based on self-interest and self-esteem; it holds integrity and trustworthiness as cardinal virtues and makes them pay off in the marketplace, thus demanding that men survive by means of virtue, not vices. It is this superlatively moral system that the welfare statists propose to improve upon by means of preventative law, snooping bureaucrats, and the chronic goad of fear. "

Saturday night one could only come away with one impression; The Republican Party is the party of Values.