We have two strong candidates running to take on Shelley Moore Capito in West Virginia's 2nd District.
One, Mike Callahan, is a former federal prosecutor and Department of the Environment secretary.
The other has served as the Republican mayor of South Charleston for 30 years. He was one of the state's five presidential electors and he threatened to withhold his electoral vote from President Bush. He switched parties three months ago.
Details on the jump.
From an email:
SAVE THE DATE: Saturday Feb. 11 7:30 PM Place: TBA
Meet Congressional candidate Richie Robb who is opposing Rep. Capito.
Come find out more about Richie Robb who
- has been mayor of South Charleston, WV for 30 years;
- is a Vietnam war veteran;
- wrote and shepherded through the South Charleston City Council a resolution calling for the end of the war in Iraq;
- left the Republican Party, in part, because of the war;
- came in 4th out of 10 in the last primary (Republican) for governor
- supports a woman's right to choose.
Information on some of his other positions will be included in the upcoming message announcing the place for Saturday Feb. 11's gathering.
Article announcing his candidacy can be found here
The other candidate is Mike Callahan, a federal prosecutor for 9 years and Gov. Bob Wise's Department of the Environment secretary
He was at our county Democratic Association meeting recently touting his role putting coal mine operators in jail for safety violations when he was a federal prosecutor.
There's a lot to like about Callahan. When asked about his position on reproductive rights he said without hesitation he's pro-choice. When I asked -- I'm paraphrasing -- if he was willing to get as nasty as the Republicans will in order to fight back he said he goes to the same church as Shelley Moore Capito. He said he was her son's mentor at the church. When I said it didn't sound like he would use all the weapons the GOP has handed us with the corruption scandals, he said that bringing that up wasn't personal that it was political and he'd use all the political tools.
He talks like a genuine Bubba. He grew up at a home where he could fish in the stream in the front yard and hunt in the back yard.