Senate Republicans are already working on conservative Democrat Joe Manchin, trying to get him to cross the aisle to become a Republican. Senate Republicans are offering all kinds of goodies including passing a very expensive piece of pork.
Fox News: Republicans are making some big promises to try to lure West Virginia Senator-elect Joe Manchin to cross the aisle.
Aside from his pick of committee assignments (likely the Energy and Natural Resources Committee), Manchin might get support for one of his pet projects – a plant to convert coal to diesel fuel that has stalled under Democratic leadership in Washington.
It’s one of Manchin’s pet projects and could mean big money for the state’s coal producers.
“Republicans believe in an ‘all of the above’ approach to energy,” one top Senate aide told Power Play. “And coal-to-diesel could certainly be part of that.”
Manchin’s switch could mean Republican support for not just $1 billion in seed money for the project but also a deal, much sought in coal country, to require the armed forces to use converted coal for fuel.
Republicans believe Manchin is particularly susceptible to the overture because he is up for reelection in 2012 and will have to be on the ticket with President Obama, who is direly unpopular in West Virginia. Democrat Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Independent Joe Lieberman are the other two prime targets of Republican advances.
I think this is really unnecessary. Manchin is an interim Senator. He has to run again in 2012. This guy had to run like a Republican on steroids just to get elected this time, I don’t think he is about to become Harry Reids’s new pet any soon. In most instances he will most likely be voting along with the Republicans just so he can stay in office. So why go crazy just to add another RINO ranks?
Maneuvers like this by Senate Republicans leads me to believe that they may not have gotten the message that the old ways of doing business is really going out of vogue.
Via: Memeorandum
Via: Fox News