Politics 2010: W.Va. voters to winnow field to finish Byrd's term

West Virginia's Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin and Republican businessman and former state lawmaker John Raese are pegged as front-runners Saturday's special election primary.

The primary is in advance of the Nov. 2 special election to complete Sen. Robert C. Byrd's unexpired term.

If Manchin and Raese advance Saturday, pollsters give the populist governor a double-digit advantage over Raese, Politico reported.

So far, Manchin has out-raised Raese by a nearly 10-to-1 margin, although there's little indication the millionaire businessman will be wanting for cash during the campaign.

Byrd, the longest-serving member of Congress, died June 28 at the age of 92.

The Democratic primary took an interesting twist when 95-year-old Ken Heckler, a former congressman and secretary of state famous for traveling the Mountain State in a red Jeep while campaigning, plunked down the filing fee and brought his Jeep out of mothballs.

"He simply just hit a home run with our audience," said Craig Hammond, former Bluefield mayor and host of a radio talk show on WHIS-AM, Bluefield, who hosted Hechler on his show recently.

"Ken has always been a good interview, but obviously you wonder when you have a nonagenarian on your show just how it's going to go," Hammond said. "But Ken had the same fire and intelligence as he always has, and the response has been electric down here. People admire his effort for his cause."

Hechler, who's been out of office since 2001, give Democrats a chance to register their discontent with Manchin, political consultant Jack Ellis told Huntingtonnews.net.

"Most Democrats like Hechler's independent streak and can justify voting for him since they assume that he's not going to win anyway," Ellis said. "However, by voting for Hechler, they can tell Manchin that he'd better not take the traditional labor wing of his party for granted any longer. So Hechler is giving them a free shot to tell off Manchin."

Ellis said West Virginia's Democratic Party base believes Manchin "isn't really one of them" and that he's let them down.

"Ken Hechler is the perfect receptacle for that discontent, and the more votes he gets on Aug. 28, the louder the point will be made to Manchin," Ellis said.

Sheirl Fletcher joins Hechler and Manchin in the Democratic special election primary. Besides Raese, the Republican ballot includes Harry C. Bruner Jr., Kenneth A. Culp, Albert Howard, Frank T. Kubic, Lynette Kennedy McQuain, Daniel Scott Rebich, Thomas Ressler, Mac Warner and Scott H. Williams. Jesse Johnson is running unopposed in the Mountain Party primary.