Mr. CharismaHis hilarious/outrageous ads about Mitch McConnell-- "swamp captain," "cocaine Mitch," "China family"-- helped turn Republican mass murderer and Senate candidate Don Blankenship into something of a folk anti-hero, not just in West Virginia but across the nation. And... much to the delight of Joe Manchin and the DSCC, Blankenship ain't goin' away. Hours after a letter to fake "president" Señor Trumpanzee accusing him of spreading fake news about him and a phone call from the fake president to the defeated Blankenship, Blankship offered another bombshell.
Blankenship attributed his loss to the president’s last-minute intervention in the contest, saying that it had halted his momentum.“I think if there was any single factor based on the polling at different times, the debates, and all the things I saw, it was probably President Trump’s lack of endorsement-- I don’t know what to call it, but ‘Don’t vote for Don’ tweet,” he said. “I don’t know what else it would have been.”In the final hours of the race, he said he was convinced that Trump had been pushed into the intervention by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who had aggressively opposed Blankenship....Some in the party are concerned that the deep-pocketed Blankenship, who spent more than $2.5 million of his own funds in the primary, could wage an effort to damage Morrisey in the general election.
That's the bombshell. It looks like Trump's "let's all kiss and make up call didn't do any good. Reports are that Blankenship "is actively plotting how to undercut state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey's Senate candidacy. Let's hope Trumpanzee is more successful in his talks with Kim Jong Un in Singapore next month.
Greg Thomas, an adviser and campaign manager for Blankenship, said on Thursday that Blankenship will not support his former rival and "all options are on the table" as Blankenship weighs how best to kneecap Morrisey's Senate campaign."Don Blankenship will not be supporting Patrick Morrisey for U.S. Senate," Thomas told West Virginia's "Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval." "I think the one thing he is going to make sure doesn't happen is that Patrick Morrisey does not become a U.S. Senator."Pressed on why, Thomas appeared to point to Morrisey's New Jersey roots, saying "he's not going to sit back and let a corrupt carpetbagger highjack our party."...Blankenship has deep pockets and, depending on the path he takes, could cause major headaches for Republicans heading into November.Thomas didn't specify how Blankenship would ultimately try to influence the election, either by spending against Morrisey or backing a third-party candidate."Don Blankenship does not believe it should be Patrick Morrisey. He also does not believe it should be Joe Manchin," he said, adding that "we've only just begun."
A brand new poll of West Virginia voters, released this morning, has Morrisey leading Manchin by 2 points-- 46-44% (within the margin of error). So is Blankenship up to spending some significant money to tank Morrisey? This probably didn't help Blankenship's state of mind much:
