Published: May 04, 2008 01:50 am            

Longshot Democratic primary hopefuls seek upsets in Senate, governor contests

CHARLESTON — To many observers, the Democratic challengers seeking to unseat two state political icons in primary contests this year don’t have a prayer.

They do, however, have a Biblical model for their campaigns.

“I’ve heard David and Goliath mentioned,” said Raleigh County Delegate Melvin Kessler, who is taking on Gov. Joe Manchin.

“My campaign has been compared to David and Goliath,” said Morgantown area resident Sheirl Fletcher, who is challenging U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller. “And that’s fine, because I know the outcome of that story.”

David and Goliath: those are roughly the odds when it comes to taking on the popular, well-funded incumbents Manchin and Rockefeller, the latter of whom has not lost a statewide election since 1972.

The only task more daunting would be taking on U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd in a primary. As it happens, Billy Hendricks Jr. — who is also challenging Rockefeller — has done that.

“I got 26,609 votes in 2006,” the Whitesville resident said. “My goal this year is to get 50,000 votes.” In the primary two years ago, Byrd received 159,154 votes.

These three candidates know they are long shots. They know their opponents have more money and greater name recognition.

But all three are resolute in challenging incumbents that virtually every observer expects to be in office a year from now.

West Virginia isn’t the only state with entrenched incumbents. Surveying the 35 U.S. Senate seats up for grabs this year, University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato says there is no competition in 25.

“It’s one of the worst years ever,” he said. “It’s just terrible.”

But there’s “competitive” in the eyes of political scientists, and then there’s the against-all-odds hope of the challengers.

“Some people run in order to provide opposition, and that’s a good thing,” Sabato said. “Other people run because they have a cause they’re passionate about. And let’s be honest, some people run because they like the attention.”

Hendricks falls into the passionate category. The Division of Motor Vehicle employee has three main issues in his campaign: helping the economy by increasing manufacturing jobs, balancing the federal budget and instituting term limits.

Candidly, he does not expect to win.

“I think I’ll do well in Boone County” where he lives, he said.

He’ll consider the campaign a success, though, if it draws attention to the issues.

“People in West Virginia are tired of seeing the same politicians get elected every year,” Hendricks said.

Hendricks’ campaign exemplifies the do-it-yourself style of candidates who run purely to bring their issues before the public: his campaign appearances are minimal, his advertising largely limited to homemade signs distributed at his church.

Fletcher, a former Republican delegate from Monongalia County, is on more familiar ground.

Now a Democrat, she is touring the state’s 55 county courthouses, meeting with elected officials and employees, and addressing candidates’ forums and any other room with a microphone and a crowd.

“It’s going to be close, but I am going to beat him,” she said at a recent stop in Charleston. “You watch. This is going to be very surprising, the outcome of this election.”

Fletcher, an environmental engineer, hopes to capitalize on a number of issues, including discontent with the war in Iraq. Rockefeller voted to authorize the use of force in Iraq in 2002, a vote he says he regrets.

For Fletcher, the mother of a decorated Marine who came home from Iraq after being injured by an improvised explosive device, the war is deeply personal.

“We entered into this war in Iraq because Americans were told about these weapons of mass destruction that never appeared,” she said.

Rockefeller’s campaign has been calm in the face of the double primary challenge. When he filed his candidacy paperwork in January, Rockefeller said he plans to run on his record, trusting that West Virginians are happy with his service.

But every incumbent, no matter how secure, feels anxiety, Sabato said.

“They can imagine the nightmarish headlines the day after the election: ’Rockefeller loses to total unknown,”’ he said.

Manchin, although favored to win handily, said he’s thinking along those lines.

“My philosophy is, you either run scared or you run unopposed,” he said. “I don’t know any other way.”

That’s the kind of anxiety Kessler hoped to instill in his opponent, the Democratic governor who has sailed through his first term with high approval ratings and the prospect of a general election against a longshot Republican.

Kessler hoped his candidacy would induce Manchin not to use his line-item veto power to cut a number of spending programs, including money for teaching hospitals and senior centers.

“I was disappointed” after Manchin trimmed more than $8 million from next year’s budget, Kessler said.

The freshman lawmaker from Beckley was motivated to challenge Manchin partly out of disquiet with how state government operates. Kessler thinks special interests have too much power, and that the governor has been too heavy-handed in dealing with the Legislature.

“The biggest thing I found out down here is how bought and paid for we are,” he said.

Although Kessler’s lawn signs have been sprouting up far afield from his native Raleigh County, his task is not easy.

The latest available figures show that while Manchin has $2.2 million at his disposal, Kessler has about $10,450 to draw from, with $10,000 coming from a loan he made himself.

That disparity is part of the point for Kessler.

“If you had told me last year I’d be running for governor, I’d have said you were crazy,” Kessler said. “I have no ambition. My wife told me, you don’t make a good politician. You know what? I hope never I become a good politician.”

        

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