Her Democratic challenger, Howard Swint, is making his third bid for the seat Capito has held for 12 years. Swint is offering himself as someone who is "unowned" by any special interest because he rejects political action committee contributions.

"That makes me almost uniquely qualified to represent the only interest we should have," Swint says, "and that's the people of West Virginia."

Capito, meanwhile, argues she's earned the right to continue her work in Washington and vows to focus on creating jobs and crafting a national energy policy that includes a role for coal.

"There are a lot of people out there who are really, really concerned and troubled," she said, "and I want to go back and try to be part of the solution."

Despite Capito's enduring popularity -- she won by more than a 2-1 margin in 2010 against her Democratic opponent -- the vastly outspent Swint sees an opening in the odd-shaped district, which stretches across the middle of the state from the Ohio River on the west to easternmost Jefferson County on the Shenandoah and Potomac rivers. Swint said Capito's record reflects a betrayal of West Virginians' core values, including equal pay for equal work and the protection of social safety-net programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

Capito voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which requires employers to prove differences in pay are related to qualifications, not gender, and gives workers more time to sue employers for discrimination. President Barack Obama has touted his signing of the Democratic-backed measure into law in early 2009.

Swint saw it was a way "to help level the playing field" and address continuing, proven inequities.

"I don't for the life of me understand how a congresswoman would vote against the working women of this country," he said.

Capito, a working mother and grandmother, said equal pay and women's rights in the work place "are probably as important to me as anything." She voted no, she said, because the law was "a trial lawyer's boon that would open up years and years and years of litigation possibilities."

"The way it was presented to me," she said, "it was excessive."

Capito also defended her support of Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan's budget proposal, saying systemic changes and cuts are needed if the nation is going to tackle a $16 trillion national debt in a meaningful way.

"Does he have the exact right answer? Probably not," she said of Ryan, now the GOP vice presidential nominee. But discussion about overhauling Social Security is a starting point. "I think America realizes that if we don't make changes for the younger generations, it's not going to be there," she said.

Swint calls that position hypocritical.

"She voted for two unfunded wars and two massive Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, yet presumes to present herself as a fiscal conservative," he charges. "And now she goes before her constituents and says we need to balance the budget for programs that benefit seniors and children and women and infants and the disabled and the poor.

"We're going to balance the budget on the poor and the most vulnerable," he said.

The candidates also have starkly different views on the role of the EPA, an agency that affects farmers and coal operators, as well as people who just want clean air and water.

Swint said vilifying the EPA, as Capito has done, is an attempt to discredit the federal government.

"The air is cleaner today in the Kanawha Valley and the Eastern Panhandle than at any time in our lives -- as is the water," Swint said, "and it's because of federal regulatory action. I like the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act."

Capito, he said, is challenging the EPA's enforcement of the Clean Water Act solely to support coal companies and mountaintop removal mining.

"That's what the coal industry wants, and she's been a shill," he charges. "The EPA is not perfect, but I would never want to go back to the days before the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act."

Capito, who has alleged the EPA has a "radical, anti-coal agenda," joined other House Republicans in September to pass the "Stop the War on Coal Act," an effort to prevent the EPA from restricting greenhouse gases. It would also quash stricter fuel-efficiency standards for cars and give states control over disposal of harmful coal byproducts.

The GOP legislation is dead on arrival in the Democratic-led Senate, and Obama has already threatened a veto.

But Capito said the goal is to reassert the states' authority to make their own decisions on matters such as mining permits.

The EPA has a role, she said, but that role is to work with -- not against -- the states.

"And what this EPA is doing, in reality, is going well beyond the intention of Congress. They're legislating by regulation," she said. "Do I want to abolish the EPA? No. I do think they have a role and have for the last 30 years played a role in cleaning up our air and water."

However, with 16 years in state and federal politics, she said she's never seen an agency "that continually thumbs its nose at Congress without thought to jobs and the courts."

According to campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission, Capito has raised more than $2 million during the current two-year election cycle and spent $767,400. Capito had $1.4 million on hand as of Oct. 17. Swint reported raising about $6,100 and spending about $4,100. He had $2,000 on hand.

Howard Swint

Age: 54

Hometown: Charleston

Occupation: Commercial property leasing manager, opinion columnist

Political experience: Lost 2nd District nomination to Erik Wells in 2004, lost 2nd District nomination to Bob Wise in 1996

Education: Master's degrees in public administration and geography, and bachelor's degree in business administration from West Virginia University

Campaign: http://on.fb.me/Iqjd6b

Shelley Moore Capito

Age: 58

Hometown: Charleston

Occupation: Legislator

Political experience: Elected six times to U.S. House of Representatives and seeking a seventh term. Sits on House Financial Services Committee and House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Chairs House Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit. Served two terms in West Virginia House of Delegates before seeking federal office.

Education: Bachelor's degree in zoology form Duke University, master's degree in education from University of Virginia

Campaign: http://www.capitoforcongress.com/