Following Tuesday's 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.
But not an exact repeat.
Oil and gas regulation — the major issue of 2011 and comfortable turf for drilling consultant Maloney — was resolved, for now at least, with legislation passed in December under Tomblin's watch.
And just by human nature, or voter nature, a year of incumbency will help Tomblin and a second run will hurt Maloney, according to Neil Berch, an associate professor of political science at West Virginia University.
"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, he said, studies show that candidates tend to do worse in a second run after a first loss.
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.
This year's primary vote count concluded with both Tomblin and Maloney taking 84 percent of votes against their challengers, Democrat Arne Moltis and Republican Ralph William Clark.
Two-thirds of more than 300,000 votes were cast in the Democratic race.
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 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)."
Tomblin touted successes Wednesday morning.
"In the past two years we have made our families safer by shutting down pill mills, banning texting and driving, and creating a registry for senior caregivers," he said in a prepared statement.
"We have already succeeded in one lawsuit against the over-reaching EPA and will continue to fight for our state's energy sector," he also said. "We have cut taxes across the board to help businesses create jobs, and we're eliminating the food tax to help our working families."
Tomblin referred The State Journal to his campaign website for the issues, where his agenda is divided into more jobs, lower taxes, energy and education.
This year will better for Democrats than the past two years have been, Berch said. 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.
Republicans' strategy in general typically would be to tie Democratic candidates to President Obama, who is not popular in West Virginia, he said, but, he noted, Tomblin, along with Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, pre-empted that recently. Tomblin said last week that Obama had not yet earned his vote and that Obama administration policies on coal are hurting West Virginians.
Studies about second runs aside, Maloney feels his near miss in 2011 gives him some momentum.
"We energized so many people last year," he said.
"He's got a long way to go, plenty of time to establish himself," Berch said of Maloney. "But he has to establish himself as something significantly other than ‘not Tomblin.'"
Maloney got started with a distinctly "not Tomblin" tone the morning after the primary, inviting all West Virginians — "whether you're a frustrated Democrat with proud memories of a party that used to look out for West Virginia coal miners, a disillusioned independent voter who feels that nothing will ever change and fears losing your kids and grandkids to North Carolina like Sharon and I did, or even a Republican who in the past may have supported Earl Ray and his false promises of balanced budgets and fiscal responsibility, only to be disappointed after the election" — to join his campaign.
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