The Hill is reporting on a possible challenger to West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd and the race's relationship to the Daschle/Thune race:
While Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) keeps political observers guessing about whether she will challenge Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) next year, one thing is certain: Former West Virginia University basketball coach Gale Catlett is running for Congress.
Whether Catlett sets his sights on the House or Senate depends on Capito, said Republican Andy McKenzie, the state Senate’s minority whip.
If Capito passes on the Senate race, McKenzie explained, Catlett would run against Byrd, as many in political circles and the press have speculated. But, McKenzie said: “If Shelley runs for the U.S. Senate, Gale will run for her seat” in the 2nd District.
Catlett could help assuage Republican fears that if Capito exits the House to challenge Byrd the party would have a tough time holding on to her seat.
Capito won her first term with 48 percent of the vote, her second with 60 percent after spending more than $2.5 million, and her third, in 2004, with 58 percent.
Although Catlett is a political novice and not a full-time resident of the district — he has homes in Morgantown, in the 1st, and Hedgesville, in the 2nd — he enjoys high name identification, Republicans said.
Catlett did not return a phone call seeking comment.
The all-important question is what Capito will do. For now, no one, including the congresswoman’s father, former Gov. Arch Moore Jr. (R), seems to know whether she will challenge the eighth-term Byrd, 87, wait for for the senator to retire, or challenge Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D) in 2008.
“We’re a very close family, and … we have confidence in our daughter, and we listen,” Moore said, adding that he “rarely” discusses the Senate race with Capito. “Whatever our daughter does in that regard, of course, we’re going to be with her full barrel.”
The former governor declined to say whether he would like to see Capito challenge Byrd. But he did outline a game plan for Republicans, suggesting the GOP tackle the state’s senior senator much the way it did former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), who lost his reelection bid last year to John Thune (R).
While Byrd routinely portrays himself as a conservative Democrat when he’s home, he aligns himself with his party’s more liberal leadership in Washington, Moore said.
“That proved to be quite fatal to Daschle,” he said.
Moore’s comments echoed those of many Republicans in Washington, including officials at the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), who have made much of the liberal activist group MoveOn.org’s backing of Byrd.
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