The National Review Online writes how President Obama’s policies have put West Virginia’s coal fields in play for Republicans. The post cites a story from Tom Nelson in the New York Times and a story from Rob Cornelius in the State Journal.

National Review Online writes…

Obama Puts Coal Country in Play
by Greg Pollowitz

First up, via Tom Nelson, there’s this item in today’s New York Times:

West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D) lashed out at President Obama today for sending inconsistent messages about the future of coal.

Speaking at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Obama’s fiscal 2011 budget request, Rockefeller took umbrage first with the administration’s decision to eliminate four tax breaks for the industry.

“It’s going to be partly psychological,” Rockefeller told White House budget chief Peter Orszag. “People are going to reduce their production because they feel, ‘Uh oh, here comes the Obama administration,’ and they are going to cut out coal.”

But Rockefeller said his concerns snowballed when he considered recent U.S. EPA decisions on mountaintop-removal coal mining and work on regulations to control greenhouse gas emissions across the economy. Given that, he said, he isn’t sure he trusts the president’s commitments to coal, even as Obama promotes the fossil fuel through a series of other administration actions.

“He says it in his speeches, but he doesn’t say it in here,” Rockefeller said, referring to the budget proposal. “He doesn’t say it in the actions of [EPA Administrator] Lisa Jackson. And he doesn’t say it in the minds of my own people. And he’s beginning to not be believable to me. So I want you to put me at rest or put me away.”

The rest here.

And then there’s this from West Virginia’s State Journal:

So the candidate filings are done, or mostly done, unless you mailed yours from someplace other-worldly like Itmann. And unlike one of the most boring regular sessions in West Virginia legislative history, this year’s elections have all the makings of drama and upheaval unseen since 2002 or 2004.

Someone said the other day on talk radio in Charleston that this will be the first time we’ll have two competitive congressional races in recent memory, and neither is in the 2nd Congressional District. That’s where Rep. Shelley Moore Capito will be free to spread goodwill and her campaign dollars, getting ready for the statewide run everyone swears is coming.

No, up in the northern tier, say, north of U.S. Route 33, the stage is set for a pair of entertaining primaries. Rep. Alan Mollohan swears that whatever federal investigation of him occurred, it’s over. But don’t be surprised when he has to repeat himself on this point for the next 39 weeks.

He’s even got an opponent in Morgantown-area state Sen. Mike Oliverio. The latter has taken a pair of primary runs at secretary of state, running from cover and losing both primaries in 2000 and 2004. The latter is universally seen as one of the more conservative and responsible members of the Democrat caucus in the state Senate.

What is Oliverio selling? Cutting federal debt, among other things. But unless he’s willing to take on Mollohan with a contrast campaign, voters will have no faith that Oliverio will be willing to do much different if elected. Some of my chat with Sen. Oliverio should appear in this space next week. If nothing else, his disappearance from the state Senate race up there in the 13th District has left a giant local mess among those jockeying to move up from other offices in Mon County.

The Republican side of the ledger is more crowded, but it probably boils down to two or at most three faces. We talked about David McKinley, a candidate for governor in 1996, Sarah Minear, a former state senator, and Morgantown businessman Mac Warner a few weeks ago in this space.

The first two have put a low-six-figure number of personal dollars in their campaign accounts to jump-start the effort and show just how serious they are. I think some folks misunderstood me a few weeks ago here. It doesn’t matter necessarily what polling by any of the candidates shows in this district.

U.S. House 1 in West Virginia is the most conservative and unfriendly to a Democrat of any of the three seats that remain here. A “generic” Republican should beat a “generic” Democrat here most years. Check out just how well George Bush and John McCain did here in national elections.

Add a wounded, dollar-free Alan Mollohan, and you have a recipe for change. I’m not sure Mollohan has had to run a meaningful ad since his redistricting win over Rep. Harley Staggers in 1992. I was unironically wearing Jams shorts at the time. It was that long ago.

Down south, the bigger news is the entry of former state Supreme Court Justice Elliott ‘Spike’ Maynard into a Republican primary for the 3rd District seat currently held by Rep. Nick Rahall.

Maynard answered along the lines that he hadn’t left the Democrat party, that it had left him, as he made his campaign announcements earlier this week.

Hecuva job, Barry.