With Democratic control of Congress, the 5-member WV delegation punches well above its weight. Even our lone Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito agrees Dem victory was good news for West Virginians.
Sen. Robert Byrd will become chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Sen. Jay Rockefeller will head the Senate Intelligence Committee "To have chairmen on major committees is a positive thing," Capito said. On the House side, Rep. Nick Rahall will lead the Resources Committee while Rep. Alan Mollohan will become a subcommittee chairman on the Appropriations Committee.
I don't know, other than CA is there a more powerful state delegation?
CALL FOR ACTION
Are you interested in promoting Democratic politics, the good life and free living in wild, wonderful West Virginia? Read on for easy action steps you can start on in minutes.
As Margaret Mead said:
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
(1) BLOGGING FOR FUN AND DEMOCRACY
Establishing a progressive WV cyber-presence is a big step we can take now to lay ground work for 2008 elections. Carnacki and I (SLJ) have been blogging up a storm at WV Kossacks.
We need help.
We're actively seeking authors, readers, and commenters. We especially need help covering topics related to WV-led Congressional Committees, areas in WV-01, areas in WV-03 and the coal-mining industry.
ACTION ITEMS
- Visit WV Kossacks and post comments.
- Subscribe to West Virginia Kossacks by Email
- If you're interested in authoring posts on any of the above topics (or anything else!) email SLJ your email address (or blogspot id if you already have one): sljohn2 at gmail.com.
(2) TURN A RED DISTRICT BLUE
As recently noted by Carnacki Christy Hardin Smith (a.k.a. ReddHedd of Firedoglake)would make a great candidate for WV-02 in 2008. We need help launching the DraftRedhedd movement.
ACTION ITEMS
- Volunteer your services for research, website design or any other tasks related to getting a Draft a Candidate initiative going.
- At this point, we don't know even know what we don't know. Any and all help much appreciated. Post a comment at WV Kossacks or email sljohn2 at gmail.com if you can help out.
(3) WIKI YOUR WEB
There are (at least) two wikis that could use more WV content. Updating (and monitoring) sites like these is one way to maintain a balanced viewpoint on websites with potentially broader consumption than dKos diaries. :)
ACTION ITEMS
- Last I checked the 2008 Race Tracker site had incomplete entries for the 2008 WV races. Visit http://www.2008racetracker.com/... create an account (it takes maybe 2 minutes, if that) and update those races.
- The Wikipedia entries for the WV Representatives, Senators, state-office holders and potential challengers are rarely up-to-date or accurate. Pick a page, do some google searches, and make updates. Here's a list of links to help get started:
Alan Mollohan - http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Shelley Moore Capito - http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Nick Rahall - http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Robert Byrd - http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Jay Rockefeller - http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Joe Manchin - http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Politics of West Virginia - http://en.wikipedia.org/...