ELECTION/GOP/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Don Blankenship, the former coal magnate who served a year in prison for a mine-safety conviction, said Monday [5-21-18] that he planned to continue his bid for a U.S. Senate seat, now as a third-party candidate after losing the Republican primary in West Virginia earlier this month. Mr. Blankenship’s decision to remain in the race—as a candidate for the Constitution Party—follows his vow days after the May 10 primary that ‘it’s not over.’ In addition to giving him a second shot at facing Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin in November, it enables him to extend his feud with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who opposed his candidacy in the GOP primary. Mr. Blankenship’s third-party hopes are complicated by West Virginia’s ‘sore loser’ law preventing failed candidates from a recognized political party from refiling to run under another party’s banner…President Donald Trump also spoke out against Mr. Blankenship’s bid for the GOP nomination. West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey won the Republican Senate primary and will face Sen. Manchin in November. Mr. Manchin is counted among the Senate Democrats’ most vulnerable incumbents, given Mr. Trump’s wide margin of victory in the state in 2016.”
-Julie Bykowicz, “Coal Magnate Seeks Second Chance in Senate Race in West Virginia,” The Wall Street Journal, May 21, 2018 12:28 pm