With my travels as of late, I have been unable to listen to Hoppy’s Talkline and today finally had an opportunity.

Hoppy trotted out Congressional candidate and former Mayor of South Charleston Richie Robb.Of course, all the Democratic hierarchy wants Richie out of the race so they can turn it over to heir apparent, Ann Barth.In case you hadn’t heard, Ann worked for Senator Byrd (thought you might not have heard that already a time or two).  Oh, and Ann lines up with Senator Byrd of every single issue, even the positions Byrd hasn’t yet taken.Anyway, Richie was on Hoppy and I will have to say he cracks me up.  They say as you get older you get more conservative.  Well, the more I hear Richie and the older he gets, the more liberal he becomes.  He’s off the deep end.Richie spouted off the typical lines around his sworn hatred of Bush (wasn’t he an Electoral College voter for Bush?).But, what struck me as even funnier is that Richie simply thinks the rich should be taxed more.  And, anyone making any modicum of money should be taxed more.  And, certainly the top 4% of taxpayers who foot 95% of the country’s bills, well…  should pay more.  How much more?  Well, enough that they still have some money, but more.  He would have been a perfect finance minister under Mao.  You know because so many societies built on extreme taxation have long prospered.I’ve never heard more talk of raising taxes, but that’s Richie.But, but…While Richie is probably viewed as a nut by outsiders and certainly the tea and crumpet, high-society South Hills Democrats like Ann Barth, he shouldn’t be counted out of this Congressional race.It reminds me of the movie Gladiator.  When the young Roman Emperor began brutal “games” with boatloads of killing in the Coliseum, two of the Roman Senators were arguing the merits of it.  One of the Senators scoffed at the idea as barbaric.  But, the other knew the Emperor was on to something and he said, “Rome is the mob…  Rome isn’t the marble of the Senate, it’s the sand of the Coliseum.”Ann Barth is the marble of the the Senate.  She no more represents the true hardcore Democrat in our state than Shelley Capito or George Bush does. 

Richie Robb is the sand of the Coliseum.  Richie is the mob.  Richie represents the true Democrats who hate everything Bush, think the rich should be strung from the highest tree and believe that a communist state that redistributes wealth is what true government should do. 

That reason alone makes Richie at least a competitor in this race.First, Richie is going is going to pound Ann Barth in Kanawha and most likely Putnam County as well.Let’s put it this way, if this were 20 years ago, Richie would bury Ann Barth.  He would outwork her, he would whomp her in Kanawha County and he would run rings around her.Because Ann has been annointed as the lamb for this year’s November Capito Thanksgiving feast, everyone has dismissed Richie as even a contender.Of course, the best thing that could have happened to Ann is that Thorton Cooper joined the race.Thorton will take at least a small portion of the kook fringe of the Democratic party (what’s that up to? About 35%?). 

Now, at least a few of the kooks who would normally have automatically backed Richie (because of Richie’s desire to reach true Democratic nirvana by lifting Bush’s still beating heart over his head after tearing it from his chest) will vote for Cooper.But, I’m not sure how much Thorton will take from Richie and judging by today’s performance, I’m not sure how the kooks could back anyone but Richie.  After all, it wouldn’t have surprised to hear the Molatav Cocktails exploding in the distance as Richie took a break from the latest protest at a G-8 summit.So, Ann will have to spend pretty much whatever she brings in during the primary to try to overcome Richie’s name recognition and to raise her name recognition which was -10% to at least enough to give the non-kooks in the Democratic primary some choice.Oh, just in case you hadn’t heard, Ann worked for Senator Byrd.  I thought you may not have heard that one.OK first, who would have thought I would have ever missed John Unger being in the race?  Maybe I shouldn’t have beaten up on him as much as I did.After all, John was at least intelligent.  And, he at least could debate and articulate his own views about issues.  I didn’t agree with him on the issues, but at least he was versed.

If you listen to Ann… holy smokes.  It simply is a regurgitation of whatever Senator Byrd (who she worked for by the way) believes.  And, if Senator Byrd doesn’t yet have an opinion on an issues, then don’t bother asking Ann, because she doesn’t yet know her position on the issue.

Her campaign has struck me as quite odd to this point. I mean, does the simple fact that she once worked for Senator Byrd automatically make her qualified to be a Congressperson?  It’s bizarre.This is a person who worked and lived in DC for… well.. ever.  She would be more suited to be the non-voting House rep from the District of Columbia than to represent, oh, say, Coalton, WV.  Heck, even Charleston.

My guess is with as little as Byrd has been in West Virginia, Barth has visited slightly more.But, the simply fact that she helped gurney Byrd into the Senate for a few votes shouldn’t somehow qualify her to represent Putnam County in our Congress.Wasn’t Byrd a butcher or something at one point? If so, maybe Sal the Butcher who used to work at the store should run for Supreme Court.  Because after all, answering the phones for Byrd and taking dictation now qualifies you to be a Congressperson.But, back to Richie.  If Richie truly works, if he gets out to the Eastern Panhandle and makes some inroads and simply holds his own in the rest of the district, he could make a run at Barth - with money or without.

Let’s face it, Richie is “out there.”  But, let’s also face another fact, the hardcore left of the Democratic party is exactly who Richie is. The question will be just how much of the Democratic primary vote are they?  We will find out in May.