West Va. Gov Manchin: Senate run 'highly likely'

[July 10, 2010]  BOSTON (AP) -- West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin said Friday that "it's highly likely" that he'll run for the late Robert C. Byrd's Senate seat but will make a decision next week.

His comment came a day after West Virginia's attorney general concluded the governor can declare a special election this fall to fill what remains of Byrd's term.

That opinion prompted the governor's chief legal counsel to advise Friday that Manchin call a special legislative session to clarify state election law, and Manchin said he intends to do just that because "it's so ambiguous."

"I'm talking to the leadership but I would hope by the middle of next week that we have called a session and get the business done," Manchin said in an interview with The Associated Press on the sidelines the National Governors Association meeting. "I think we owe it to Senator Byrd to do it and do it right. Get it done quickly and then I think from there clear up what the process would be and our succession laws."

Manchin sought the legal opinion after joining a growing push to hold a vote earlier than 2012, when Byrd would have faced re-election.

Byrd, 92, died last week after more than a half-century in the Senate. He had just over 30 months left in his term.

Pending an election, the governor will appoint someone to fill the vacancy. The governor has said he won't arrange to have himself appointed, and he said Friday that he hasn't yet made a decision on who to appoint. He said he'd like the law to be clarified before appointing a temporary successor.

He struggled to say under what circumstances he wouldn't run for the seat, saying only: "It's highly likely that I will but I've got to do this first, we've got to clarify the law."

Manchin, who has enjoyed solid approval ratings throughout his tenure as governor, won re-election in 2008 with nearly 70 percent of the vote and carried all 55 counties. He is halfway through his second term, and the state constitution bars Manchin from running again for governor in 2012.

Potential Republican special election candidates include Rep. Shelley Moore Capito. Already running for a sixth U.S. House term, Capito would not rule out seeking Byrd's seat when she joined calls this week for a vote before 2012.

[Associated Press; By LIZ SIDOTI]

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