It's appears to be getting very close

Politico reported on Saturday night that recent Republican internal polls suggested that Don Blankenship had made significant gains on his two rivals. A few minutes ago, the conservative Weekly Standard claimed to have the specifics:

The results of an internal campaign poll conducted for one rival Senate campaign on Saturday and Sunday were: Blankenship 31 percent, Jenkins 28 percent, Morrissey 27 percent.

The results of another internal poll conducted Friday and Saturday were: Blankenship 28 percent, Morrissey 27 percent, Jenkins 14 percent. Two weeks earlier, the same rival campaign found Blankenship at 14 percent, Morrissey at 29 percent, and Jenkins at 26 percent.

Trump weighs in

The President appears worried. From earlier this morning:

To the great people of West Virginia we have, together, a really great chance to keep making a big difference. Problem is, Don Blankenship, currently running for Senate, can’t win the General Election in your State...No way! Remember Alabama. Vote Rep. Jenkins or A.G. Morrisey!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 7, 2018

I wonder what Trump finds objectionable in Blankenship. His racism? His lack of financial disclosure? His personal attacks on Republicans for being part of the Washington swamp?

So sad.

Have the Wheeling "newspapers" weighed in?

Not as of this morning. The biggest story on this morning's front page was that an apartment building in downtown Wheeling will open soon. Above it was a story that the future "remains uncertain" for Bethesda, Ohio's (population 1,246) police dog.

However, there is an article about the campaign on the bottom of page 7:

Morrisey Makes Weekend Campaign Stops in Wheeling

On the editorial page, the locals' have yet to endorse any candidate. Nor have we seen anything about Blankenship's more outrageous attacks. Here's a thought -- maybe the paper's editor could write a column about the importance of calling out racism when it occurs. Never mind, he did last weekend.

Will Blankenship run as a third party candidate if Morrisey wins?

Would that be the Republican's worst nightmare? CBS News reported yesterday:

Ex-coal CEO and West Virginia senate candidate Don Blankenship says he will not rule out a third party bid in the West Virginia senate race, if Attorney General Patrick Morrisey wins the Republican nomination Tuesday. "I have not ruled out anything," Blankenship told CBS News on Sunday, adding, "I've said that I cannot let him win because of the opioid connection and planned parenthood connection."

The CBS story, however, does suggest that it might not be possible:

But Blankenship's threat may ring hollow. West Virginia law contains a "sore loser" clause barring candidates that lose in a party primary from running as an independent for the same post. It's not clear how or if he could ever run such a campaign in the State of West Virginia.

In doing a quick check on this (see here), it appears that CBS may be correct. Blankenship might think that it was worth the effort regardless.