There won’t be an official announcement until later this afternoon, but the name of the temporarily appointed Senator from West Virginia has been leaked to the AP:
Gov. Joe Manchin is tapping his former chief counsel and a member of a prominent West Virginia family, Carte Goodwin, to succeed the late U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, Democratic officials told The Associated Press on Friday.
Three officials familiar with the governor’s pick spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment ahead of an official announcement.
So, instead of appointing an elder-statesman like Gaston Caperton to fill Robert Byrd’s seat, Manchin decided to take a page from Charlie Crist and reward one of his right-hand-men with a temporary Senate seat… and in doing so, build the statewide bench by getting a young up-and-comer onto the electoral map for a possible future run for something. One thing I hadn’t known about Goodwin until today is that he’s only 36, which will make him the youngest current Senator. Goodwin’s from a locally well-connected family, too; his father was chair of the West Virginia University’s Board of Governors, his uncle is a federal judge in West Virginia, and his cousin is a US Attorney in West Virginia — so we can probably expect to hear more from him in the future after his half-year of service is over.
a bad choice at all. The point of a seat warmer is to be invisible and vote for legislation without question. Goodwin fits that and I could see him in politics in the future as well. The states AG is 74 so will probably not run for re-election in 2012, Goodwin could run for that or possibly Congress in 2012. I like Barth, do not get me wrong but it’s manchin’s choice and not a bad one. I would not have been upset if he appointed Caperton but the one concern about that is he currently lives in New York and that might not go over great, it probably would not have hurt that much but still any controversy that can be avoided should. Also I posted this earlier: I should point out that I am straight but I think we have a contender for hottest Senator (We once had a very long open thread discussion of the hottest people in Washington).
http://blogs.wvgazette.com/squ…
Beginning with Michael Bennet, each appointed Senator has been younger than the last, and has been for a brief period the youngest currently serving senator.
Just kidding. Let’s hope he’s more loyal than Crist’s pick (Lemeiux).
his wife ran Jay Rockefeller’s Charleston office too.
I dislike appointments like this.
It was better that he didn’t appoint a fixture.
If he does that, he’s filled his role….
I wonder if he stands to inherit the Smarte Carte fortune. I love using their product whenever I travel via an American airport. Those are some damn sturdy Cartes.