ON Saturday, Aug. 28, West Virginia Republican and Democratic parties will hold primary elections to choose nominees for the U.S. Senate seat long held by Robert C. Byrd.
West Virginians choose a new senator on General Election day, Nov. 2.
Will Senate Democrats retain the power to keep ramming far-reaching legislation through the Senate? Or will the American people stop them?
West Virginians could have an effect on that.
The winner of this state's Nov. 2 Senate vote will be seated immediately - and thus in a position either to help enable or block what the Senate is able to do before other new senators take their seats in January.
The Aug. 28 primaries are a rush job, but most people know the front-runners.
On the Democratic side, the best-known candidate is Gov. Joe Manchin, a centrist Democrat and a very able man who has been an excellent governor.
On the Republican side, the best-known contenders include John Raese, president and chief executive of Greer Industries, chairman of the board of West Virginia Radio Corp., founder of MetroNews Radio, and vice president of the Morgantown Dominion Post.
The other is Mac Warner, a West Point grad and lawyer who served in the Army from 1977 to 2000 doing prosecution, defense and international law. He has a son in Afghanistan, a daughter in graduate school, and a daughter at West Point.
Both are very able and articulate men who are strongly committed to changing the course of the country.
The airways will soon be filled with messages from front-runners of both parties.
But I'm hoping voters are as passionate about this opportunity as even the lesser-known Republican candidates are.
In their way, they are as powerfully affecting as the front-runners.
Harry C. Bruner Jr., of Charleston, has been a lawyer for 35 years both in the private and public sectors. Two of his sons are Army infantry officers, and one is in Iraq. Bruner is taking a leave of absence to run for the Senate.
Scott H. Williams of Buckhannon has a bachelor of science degree in safety engineering and has worked for Mobil Oil in Chicago and Dallas, and for Woody Forest Products, Trus Joist MacMillan, Weyerhaeuser, Alcon and Weatherford International in Buckhannon.
ON Saturday, Aug. 28, West Virginia Republican and Democratic parties will hold primary elections to choose nominees for the U.S. Senate seat long held by Robert C. Byrd.
West Virginians choose a new senator on General Election day, Nov. 2.
Will Senate Democrats retain the power to keep ramming far-reaching legislation through the Senate? Or will the American people stop them?
West Virginians could have an effect on that.
The winner of this state's Nov. 2 Senate vote will be seated immediately - and thus in a position either to help enable or block what the Senate is able to do before other new senators take their seats in January.
The Aug. 28 primaries are a rush job, but most people know the front-runners.
On the Democratic side, the best-known candidate is Gov. Joe Manchin, a centrist Democrat and a very able man who has been an excellent governor.
On the Republican side, the best-known contenders include John Raese, president and chief executive of Greer Industries, chairman of the board of West Virginia Radio Corp., founder of MetroNews Radio, and vice president of the Morgantown Dominion Post.
The other is Mac Warner, a West Point grad and lawyer who served in the Army from 1977 to 2000 doing prosecution, defense and international law. He has a son in Afghanistan, a daughter in graduate school, and a daughter at West Point.
Both are very able and articulate men who are strongly committed to changing the course of the country.
The airways will soon be filled with messages from front-runners of both parties.
But I'm hoping voters are as passionate about this opportunity as even the lesser-known Republican candidates are.
In their way, they are as powerfully affecting as the front-runners.
Harry C. Bruner Jr., of Charleston, has been a lawyer for 35 years both in the private and public sectors. Two of his sons are Army infantry officers, and one is in Iraq. Bruner is taking a leave of absence to run for the Senate.Scott H. Williams of Buckhannon has a bachelor of science degree in safety engineering and has worked for Mobil Oil in Chicago and Dallas, and for Woody Forest Products, Trus Joist MacMillan, Weyerhaeuser, Alcon and Weatherford International in Buckhannon.Kenneth A. Culp of Summersville is a former Air Force crew chief who holds degrees in economics and management degrees and has been a certified public accountant since 1977.He owned the largest CPA firm in Nicholas County for 26 years, was chief financial officer for Bright of America, director of finance for Wetterau, manager of corporate accounting for Fox Grocery and a staff accountant for Price Waterhouse.
Lynette Kennedy McQuain of Rivesville is "a real mom," a substitute teachers aide for the Marion County Board of Education and a former medical transcriptionist.Thomas Ressler of Falling Waters has a bachelor of arts degree, has worked as a real estate manager and broker, and as a corrections officer for the state of Maryland for 20 years.Daniel Rebich of Buckhannon is a native of upstate New York who moved to West Virginia in 2003.He studied civil engineering at a community college, worked for Brown & Root building base camps for the military in Bosnia, and later in base camp operations in Uzbekistan. He owns a concrete contracting business.
This is the salt of the earth, the backbone of America.
Like the front-runners of both parties, these are the people who, with their work ethic and their common sense, make America work.
That so many of them would stick their necks out to change the course of the country tells me that many West Virginia voters are fired up as well.
I hope Democrats and Republicans turn out in droves on Aug. 28, select their strongest, and fight it out until Nov. 2.
If you're concerned about America, stand up and vote your convictions.
All the candidates are, and I salute them for it.
Maurice is editorial page editor of the Daily Mail. She may be reached at 348-4802 or ha...@dailymail.com.
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