I think the Blankenship has hit the fan
no pun intended but Don Blankenship who
lost that West Virginia Republican
Senate primary is now going to run as a
third party candidate so that could
divide the Republican vote and
potentially being Joe Manchin the
embattled Democrat could just squeak in
and remain a democratic seat GOP
strategist for Connell we have Olympic
media's Katie Freitas and former Ohio
Democratic state senator capriccioso
Capri this could change the dynamics at
least in that race what do you think no
question about it Neal I mean there are
a number of hurdles that Blankenship or
Greene have to come through for him to
actually get on the ballot he's going to
have to have signatures to get him on as
a third party candidate he's apparently
I think potentially could be sued under
the sore-loser law I didn't think it was
possible but I've talked to people over
there and say that the way he's going
about it he could do it so that confuse
well if he bottom line is if he pulls it
off there's no question he turns into
somebody who is a spoiler who is going
to split the anti Democrat pro Trump
vote and really could hand the seat back
to Joe Manchin so this is really not
good news for the Republican
establishment nor the Republicans being
able to hold on to that seat in West
Virginia still okay - I've heard from
others who say he didn't fare that well
in the primary night anyway he wouldn't
garner that many votes the people who
would either vote for him or the nominee
of the Republican Party the Attorney
General are more inclined to vote
Republican anyway and take their best
shot on their best person who would not
be mr. Blankenship what do you think I
mean I think that's correct but at the
same time he is going to draw away a
certain number of voters he's going to
inject a discord and chaos into what's
going on he's going to be an additional
Roy Moore in this election and that's
not what Republicans need when they have
the chance to take Senator Joe Manchin
Senate seat and it's not that mansion is
the worst of all evils of Democrats but
if you have the chance when you have
effectively 50 seats in the Senate with
Senator McCain in Arizona you need to be
able to effectively take this away and
Blankenship could ruin that we'll see
you know Ford one of things I noticed -
I don't know how polling is going in the
state I you know obviously Manchin is
a race of his life but you I let's try
to play this out of my own head and
thinking that if he does manage to get
on a third-party ballot he's going to
demand attendance at debates that would
know like happen I would assume and then
if I'm don't match and I could say well
if he isn't included I don't want to be
there and you know what I'm saying it
could it could get create its own little
drama it definitely could be the
Republicans worst nightmare to your
point Neal actually Attorney General
Morrissey is actually leading Joe
Manchin by two and this is going to be a
neck-and-neck race between Morrissey and
Manchin and frankly it's one of the five
true realistic pick ups the Republicans
have in the United States Senate so
essentially if Blankenship wins out
beats the sore loser laws and gets on
there one or two percent taken away from
Morrissey is going to hand Joe Manchin a
seat in a state that Donald Trump won by
40 points to Bri it's still possible in
some of these other races where
regardless of what people feel about
what's going on at a house where they
still talk a blue whale maybe not his
blow the Republicans have a very good
shot at increasing their margin in the
Senate even with this do they not well
you know it's interesting I actually
just recently read an article talking
about and I believe it was from The
Associated Press that was saying that in
2012 Claire McCaskill in was on the
ballot and she was able to pull it out
there she is another one that is you
know really on the fence fighting for
her life in this in this midterm
election cycle but because Barack Obama
is not on the ballot there's they're
basically projecting that the African
American vote that as traditionally
voted Democratic is going to sit at home
they could have made the difference for
Claire McCaskill in 2012 they're not
going to be there in 2018 and that's
just one example of a place where
turnout is going to make all the
difference in whether or not Democrats
can pick up or ride some kind of a you
know a theoretical blue wave which i
think is more of a blue trickle you
could argue that in order to get a blue
wave people have to be in a mood for a
momentous shift and if the economy is
seemed to be deemed better than it was
and the view of people's own sense of
personal value is better than it was job
security better than it was job security
for their kids better than it was
maybe we're missing something here well
they are Democrats don't have a message
they didn't have one during the election
they've clearly learned nothing and on
top of that no one wants the message to
be we're gonna impeach the president
everything's awful and the economy is
terrible when none of that is true so I
don't think they've got a lot going for
him we've seen the first round of polls
come out just recently showing that the
democratic edge in the midterms is
within the margin of error now their
lead has been slimming so this isn't
looking good for them especially when
they're so disorganized for them what
the Republicans have to do well
basically Republicans have to wait a
fire and a way to fire up their base not
hack off independent voters put up some
great candidates and some of these other
races like North Dakota and Indiana and
if they do that they're going to make
gains in the United States Senate and
they'll be able to hold the house what I
would say to Republicans is if they hold
the house and make gains in the Senate
will be largely because of the Trump
economic boom but there's no
one-size-fits-all plan they might need
to supplement their message to Katie's
point with impeachment of Trump or
immigration because those are two issues
that independents agree with Republicans
on and they really truly fire up the
Republican base
all right sell early a blue wave or any
kind of wave is way too soon but we'll
watch it guys thank you all very very
much