What is Joe Manchin Playing At?
Joe Manchin, 77, a centrist Democrat in a largely Republican state isn’t running for re-election in 2024. With the Dems only holding the Senate by one, they are understandably in a tizzy because Manchin was considered the only Dem who could win there. This is a problem for Big Blue while the GOP appears to have crapped the bed in the House, they haven’t done so in the Senate. Manchin has been flirting with a bi-partisan caucus and the group No Labels for a cross ticket presidential run featuring a sane Republican and a sane Democrat for president.
Polling over the last nine months shows consistent support for the idea of a “unity ticket” at around 69%. Which is in the ball park of the number of Americans who thing another Biden or Trump presidency is absolutely asinine.
No Labels plans to decide on launching a Unity Ticket bid by the end of the year – largely factored on both Trump and Biden staying in the race. The smart money here is that the decision has largely already been made. Joh Huntsman of Utah, former Senator, and former ambassador to both China and Russia is rumored be the Republican on the ticket.
The knock-on of a win for a centrist Unity Ticket would affectively take the leverage from the crazy wings of both parties and, blessedly, contain them to wacky ends of social media. Not everyone is happy about it. The maneuver has chapped both Democrats and Republicans who thought that the voter just needed to take whomever they put forward – either down the throat or us the ass.