Last Call For Tennant's Lights Out Play

The Pollster.com aggregate of the polls for the WV Senate race to fill retiring Democrat Jay Rockefeller's seat has Republican Rep. Shelly Moore Capito up by about ten points over Democrat and current WV Secretary of State Natalie Tennant.  That's been fairly constant, so the Tennant camp is taking a page from Sen. Joe Manchin's playbook:  attack President Obama as hard as you can.

Natalie Tennant is making it clear: she opposes President Barack Obama's policies on coal. 

"Where do they think their electricity comes from?" asks West Virginia's secretary of state and Democratic Senate nominee, as her new campaign commercial shows a picture of the White House.

"You and I know it's our hard-working West Virginia coal miners that power America. I've fought to protect our coal jobs right alongside Joe Manchin, and I'll stand up to leaders of both parties who threaten our way of life, I'll make sure President Obama gets the message," adds Tennant, as she pulls a power switch which turns the lights off at the White House.

Tennant's campaign says they'll spend six-figures to run the spot for two weeks in four markets that cover three-quarters of West Virginia. The ad is the first by Tennant or her Republican opponent, seven-term Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, who is considered the favorite in the race. The winner in November's midterm elections will succeed longtime Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller, who is retiring after three decades in the Senate.

Hey, worked for Joe Manchin, right?  And we know how awesome of a senator he turned out to be.

Technically, Tennant's got to be a better lawmaker than Capito, but not by much.  West Virginia Democrats are basically indistinguishable from Kentucky Democrats in that respect.  But there's no mistaking that Tennant's campaign is now centered around attacking Obama, and she's spending six figures at least in order to do it.

If slagging the President gets her into office?  Hooray, I guess.  Maybe she'll warm up to Hillary.  Capito will be 100% of a problem compared to Tennant's 90%.  There's not much else we can hope for from West Virginia, folks.