According to this story, West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin has no plans to call an early special session of the legislature to consider gubernatorial succession.  West Virginia elects its governors during presidential election years.  Governor Manchin will be resigning as Governor very soon, to take his seat in the U.S. Senate.  Democratic Party legislators and the Governor seem to feel that the Senate President, Ray Tomblin, will automatically become Governor and will hold office until November 2012.

Not everyone agrees with that.  The West Virginia Constitution says when a governor leaves office with more than a year remaining in the term, an election will be called to fill the vacancy.  The problem is that the Constitution doesn’t say when that special election should be.

Ray Tomblin has been a Democratic legislator in West Virginia continuously since 1974.  He is in the middle of his 4-year State Senate term.  The article seems to suggest that he plans to become Governor and also remain a State Senator, although this is not explicit.

Amy Goodman and associates interviewed film-maker Michael Moore on the evening of November 3, about the 2010 and 2012 elections, and other related topics.  Listen at this link.  The segment is 20 minutes long.  Thanks to Nancy Hankster for the link.  Moore thinks there is a fair chance that there will be four strong presidential candidates in the 2012 election.  Also, he talks about the almost complete lack of public discussion about U.S. involvement in foreign wars, during the recent political campaign.  That is in the last eight minutes of the segment.

On November 2, David Maynard was elected to one of the seats on the Hillsborough County Soil and Water Conservation Board.  He received 84,578 votes and won his 3-way race with 40.0% of the vote.  He is a dues-paying member of the Socialist Party USA, although during the campaign he was, and is, a registered Democrat.  Thanks to Greg Pason for this news.