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Sen. Joe Manchin is facing intense pressure in West Virginia to permanently kill the party-line spending package that Democrats say is key to President Biden’s domestic agenda.
Conservative groups have been on West Virginia’s airwaves in recent weeks urging Manchin to hold firm in his opposition to the legislation, which can only pass via a party-line process known as budget reconciliation. Since the Senate is split 50-50 between both parties, Manchin’s support is key to its success.
“Joe’s obviously hearing from a lot of different people,” said Greg Thomas, a West Virginia-based political strategist. “There’s been paid advertising, but then also a lot of the local groups and national groups with a local presence are reaching out to Manchin.”
The pressure campaign has taken a two-pronged approach of praising Manchin for standing up to Democrats by derailing prior versions of the spending deal while simultaneously warning the goodwill could disappear overnight.
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That strategy was on display with a recent ad, “The Tale of Two Joes,” by the 60 Plus Association, which bills itself as a right-leaning alternative to the AARP.
“The first Joe did the right thing for West Virginia by standing up and blocking [President] Biden’s and [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi’s liberal agenda,” the narrator states over dual images of Manchin. “The second Joe wasn’t so heroic, this Joe cracked under pressure … now the question for Joe Manchin is which Joe are you?”
Activists and outside groups are targeting constituencies important to Manchin’s re-election chances in 2024. Topping that list are seniors, who narrowly backed the senator over a GOP rival in 2018.
One recent ad, by the conservative group American Commitment, slams Manchin for being open to including within reconciliation a proposal allowing Medicare to negotiate the price of prescription drugs.
“Now [Manchin] and AARP support government price-setting schemes that will give liberal politicians billions in funds meant for Medicare to spend on unrelated government programs or pad big insurers’ profits,” the ad states. “If AARP and Sen. Manchin believe West Virginia’s seniors aren’t watching, think again.”
Such ads have drawn the attention of national Democratic groups, which have rushed to respond with their own spots calling on Manchin to stay true to his party.
The deluge of ads has been made possible by West Virginia’s relatively inexpensive media markets. Apart from the eastern panhandle, which is included in the Washington media market, groups can book radio and television time in the state for a few thousand dollars. One recent ad, which went up in June and ran for a week, only cost $55,000.
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Republicans say that one of the reasons Manchin likely opted to oppose the original reconciliation bill, known as Build Back Better, was because conservative groups made it toxic among voters.
“The ads helped expose all the crazy stuff Democrats were trying to cram through,” said West Virginia GOP Chairman Mark Harris. “Manchin himself said he couldn’t support the bill because he couldn’t go home and sell it to voters. Well, he couldn’t sell it because everyone had seen ads and knew what was really in it.”
The political pressure on Manchin has only intensified as inflation continues to rise unabated, hitting 9.1%…
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