Tomblin, Maloney headed for November rematch - Beckley, Bluefield & Lewisburg News, Weather, Sports

Following the May 8 primary, Democratic Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and Republican mining engineer Bill Maloney will square off in November in a repeat of last October's special gubernatorial race.

As the count in the primary approached 50 percent of precincts, Tomblin had taken 84 percent of the votes, with 16 percent going to Democratic challenger Arne Moltis; Maloney had taken a similarly overwhelming 85 percent of Republican votes, with 15 percent going to opponent Ralph William Clark.

It leaves the two major candidates to a rematch.

In last year's special election, prompted by the mid-term departure of Gov. Joe Manchin to replace the late Robert C. Byrd in the Senate, Tomblin took 49.6 percent of the vote while Maloney took 47.0 percent — a difference of just 7,546 votes out of more than 300,000.

On voting with wife Sharon Tuesday morning at Cheat Lake, Maloney listed his campaign priorities for the run up to the November election.

"Fixing the courts" is first on Maloney's list. Making the tax code "fair for everybody" ranks high, along with the question of requiring identification cards for voters.

And he wants to talk about what he calls regulatory overreach.

"Coal is under attack by the Environmental Protection Agency," he said, "and now natural gas is under attack too. And farmers are getting hammered (over regulation of discharges affecting the Chesapeake Bay)."

But Maloney is at a disadvantage to Tomblin compared with last year, according to West Virginia University Associate Professor of Political Science Neil Berch.

"Tomblin is better known now and people feel more comfortable with him as governor," now that he's no longer acting governor but has held the office by rights, Berch said. "It's just a matter of the power of the incumbency."

And this year is better for Democrats, he added. Because there is a presidential election, more people will turn out, and since the economy has improved some, it will be to the Democrats' favor.

Maloney, he said, is relying on the fact that he came close last time, although studies show that candidates tend to do worse in a second run after a first loss.

"He's got a long way to go, plenty of time to establish himself," Berch said. "But he has to establish himself as something significantly other than ‘not Tomblin.'"