Yesterday, Roll Call published the results of a senatorial poll of 500 Republican voters.

West Virginia Rep. Evan Jenkins led the primary field for the Republican nomination for Senate in an automated poll conducted earlier this month for his campaign.

Jenkins was ahead of his closest opponent, state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, 33 percent to 25 percent among GOP primary voters in the six-way matchup, results of which were obtained first by Roll Call.

The results came from Harper Polling which surveyed 500 Republican primary voters earlier this week. The poll comes with a 5.6 margin of error.

This result surprised me the most:

Former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship, who served time in prison for conspiring to violate mine safety standards, was at 18 percent in the poll.

18% of Republicans polled chose Blankenship? That’s quite a party!

Dave Peyton, writing in the Huntington Herald-Dispatch, warns that we shouldn’t completely dismiss Blankenship:

Anything is possible in a West Virginia election. After his Logan appearance, WSAZ interviewed a few of those who attended. One of the attendees said he noted the mining industry seemed to be flying high until Blankenship lost his job and went to jail. Then things fell apart in the industry. He suggested "Senator Blankenship" would bring the coal industry back to its glory days.

To Blankenship’s credit, he’s already held four town halls which is four more than our courageous congressman, David McKinley has done in the last four years. McKinley’s lame excuse is that he’s worried about security at open town hall meetings -- something that hasn’t dissuaded Blankenship who I think would have more reason to worry.

**The title refers to an excellent animated series, "Celebrity Deathmatch", that aired on MTV from 1998 to 2002. The show used famous people wrestling to satirize sports programming and our fascination with celebrity.