Democrat Manchin Takes W. Va. Senate

Democrat Joe Manchin won West Virginia Senate race, running a headstrong campaign featuring Manchin shooting the cap-and-trade bill with a gun. That one shot honed in on the biggest issue for West Virginians in a way that Republican John Raese simply could not. Raese tried to highlight cap-and-trade, but got bogged down with a scandal involving a casting call for "hicks" in a campaign commercial shoot. He was also bogged down by fact that his family owned a large house in Florida, leaving questions about his residency.

Manchin managed to capitalize on rejecting the current Democratic Congress, implying that he would be open to repealing the current bill. But he'll still be a Democrat.