From The
Charleston Gazette:
Byrd is on track to become the longest serving senator in U.S. history in June 2006, surpassing Strom Thurmond; he’s already the current member with the lengthiest tenure.
But as he considers running for a record ninth term, he faces what might be the toughest battle of his political career.
Though the 2006 general election is more than 18 months away, the National Republican Senatorial Committee has already started an Internet-based campaign to oust Byrd. Almost daily, it e-mails Byrd-related story ideas and relays articles, columns and even blogs critical of the senator.
Nationally, Robert C. Byrd may wear a Republican bulls-eye — the senator atop the GOP’s electoral hit list for 2006. But in Sophia, the town of 1,301 he left for Congress some 52 years ago, he is still very much the favorite son.
“He’s always trying to help us out,” said Shawn Stines, a 26-year-old mechanic, as he stuffed a dryer at the Sophia Laundromat. “I like him. He’s a good guy.”
Outside Priddy’s Hardware Store, 64-year-old Frances Meredith is even more emphatic.
“I love him,” Meredith said. “I dread the day when he passes away.”
It’s hard to forget Byrd in Sophia. After all, the main road into town was christened Robert C. Byrd Drive.
Byrd hasn’t lost an election since he ran for the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1946. After two terms there and one in the state Senate, Byrd was elected to the U.S. House for three terms before winning his Senate seat in 1958 with 59.2 percent of the vote.
He’s carried all 55 counties in the state in four of his eight Senate bids. His best showing was in 2000, when he brushed off token opposition with 77.8 percent of the vote and all but seven of the state’s 1,970 voting precincts. In 1976, he ran unopposed.
This time, he will be challenged. U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, daughter of former Gov. Arch Moore, may be the Republicans’ best candidate, but she says only that she is “interested.”
