A Party with One Candidate

Earlier in the year there was some fear and trepidation among the local Democrats that Mr Blankenship was going to spend a lot of money in Harrison County to defeat members of the legislature to punish incumbents who were not falling in line with his desired tax revision proposals; sales tax on food, among others. The point was also to change the party balance in Charleston.

Good plan except for the part that the Harrison County Republican Party has no candidates who can win. Or, candidates, period. There is a Republican vacancy for the State Senate seat and 3 of 4 vacant seats essentially remain for the House of Delegates. Jay Wolfe's name is on the ballot but it is said that he has dropped out and will not campaign.

Who does that leave?

It leaves an 18 year old Liberty High School senior, Danny Hamrick, to carry the Republican banner as the GOP representative to the public to appraise and critique the incumbents' performance while attempting to engage the public in an alternative vision of what the state government could be doing.

I wonder if die-hard Republicans have a feeling similar to the Cavalry- mounted Polish generals who watched in amazement as the German tanks rolled across the horse-drawn army in 1939 as the German's defeated Poland. The German's were not right; they were better equipped, armed and prepared. Not to mention the element of surprise.

So, why vote for Danny? Because. Check out the voting record of the incumbents. Is there one who has never deviated from the direction of the Democratic Party leadership? Is there one candidate who is good at back-slapping, glad-handling, griping and grinning, but who has never originated a piece of legislation who has never opposed a position held by his committee's chairman or the Speaker of the House? Who never gives a direct answer to what he's for or against? In other words, an incumbent who has made no difference if he ever served or not. He could save the tax payers money by staying at home and mailing or phoning in his vote, once the party leaders told him how they wanted him to vote.

A vote for Danny is a guarantee that the Democratic leadership will have one less automaton in the House that will automatically rubber stamp what is demanded by the democratic party bosses. Plus it is a good way to pay back the insult of having an incumbent who does nothing in Charleston except socializes and takes for granted his re-election.