All the Dem operatives and commentators ensuring that every state will “eventually” (an indeterminate length) opt into the Medicaid expansion makes the case that they will see what a good deal it is for the states and simply have to comply. Greg Sargent looks at some numbers from the Urban Institute showing that states would [...]

There’s no question that Joe Manchin will be a thorn in the side of the White House and national Democrats for the next two years and possibly longer. He won his election running away from the Democratic Party – even though he received more help from liberal writers, who did much to define his opponent [...]

I’m not entirely well-versed on the Administration’s policy on mountaintop mining, but to the extent that I do come across the various proposals, they have vacillated back and forth a bit. Last April it seemed like an EPA rule on the practice, which entails blowing off the top of a mountain to extract resources, allowing [...]

Many Americans, a majority according to a lot of polls, believe that America should move to a clean energy future. However, broken down regionally, that support would dissipate. In many states, the incentives for keeping the system as it is predominates. That’s particularly true in coal-dependent West Virginia, where the state is suing the federal [...]

I mentioned this in yesterday’s Roundup, but I’m still marveling at it, just as an example of how not to run a negotiation. Democrats in West Virginia originally wanted to follow the law by waiting until 2012 for a special election to replace the late Robert Byrd. Republicans howled about the deception of an interim [...]

The best laid plans of mice and legislatures…. Joe Manchin had an idea. The timing of Robert Byrd’s death meant that he could call for a quick-strike election in 2010 instead of waiting for 2012. Because of Manchin’s current popularity and his name ID, he could basically walk into a Senate seat. Not to mention [...]

New West Virginia Senator Carte Goodwin opposes any cap and trade legislation before the Senate, CQ reports. It’s behind a paywall, but here’s a brief piece: Carte Goodwin, the former general counsel to Gov. Joe Manchin III, gave his position in response to a question at the news conference in Charleston, W. Va., announcing his [...]

The EPA, on the same day that they announced rulemaking on new CAFE standards, issued a set of guidelines that would seriously curtail mountaintop coal mining in the United States. While the EPA would deny this, it represents a reversal from earlier in the Obama Administration, when some permits for mountaintop and surface mining were [...]