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 As part of his tour of "American Hunger Games" many people are experiencing, Jordan Chariton of Status Coup does a powerful interview:

 In his latest attempt to play congressional gadfly, Joe Manchin has decided to make the more left-leaning Democrats in Congress choose which of the following three policies they want to keep : expanded child tax credit, paid family leave or subsidies for child care . While this may look like Manchin may finally be willing to negotiate, there's a reason to be suspicious. It's possible Manchin would just be against whichever option was picked, claiming that the other two are more reasonable. It's also possible that Manchin wants someone else to make the choice instead of him, which will take the anger and frustration off of him while splintering the people who want all three policies.  For the most part, the left-leaning Democrats aren't buying it , but time will tell. After all, the midterms are fast approaching and Manchin has just as much pull with Republicans in charge.   

  Cause and Effect : When West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) announced his decision last month to cut federal unemployment benefits for his state’s jobless residents , he pointed to what he said was a plethora of openings for those who needed work. “West Virginians have access to thousands of jobs right now. We need everybody back to work,” he said on May 14. “We’ve got to have you back to work. America is all about work. That’s what has made this great country." Justice didn’t need to look far for examples of companies struggling to hire workers. The storied West Virginia resort he owns, the Greenbrier, has been looking for dozens of new employees in recent weeks and until recently had received far fewer applications than normal. But after Justice announced his decision, that started to change, said Kathy Miller, vice president of human resources at the luxury hotel. “ Fortunately the applicant pool has started to improve, so we’re very happy about that ,” she said in an intervi...

So having a billionaire coal baron was fine as long as a "D" was attached to him, b ut as soon as he turns Trump , all the "facts" come out . This is a good example of why "making someone accountable after they are elected" is a dumb idea. Democrats: please stop throwing your working class base under the bus for money and short-term electoral gains. Please.

When states like Missouri and West Virginia start to become "toss-ups," it's time for John McCain to start to worry. Meanwhile: Barack Obama has no problem going door-to-door to talk to voters .

For those who love numbers: The Republican Winner of West VA. Primary received less votes then the 2nd-place (aka Loser) of the Democratic West VA. Primary . John McCain: 89, 654 popular votes Barack Obama: 91,663 popular votes And Obama was the one West Virginians supposedly hated because they believed either (a) he was a Muslim; or (b) he is taken orders from his "Jedi Master" Rev. Jeremiah Wright. In other words: a state who (presumably) bought into the negative stereotypes of Barack Obama still gave him more votes than a guy who presumably fits their demographic. And how many more popular votes did Obama get? 2009. And BTW: Hillary Clinton received 239,187 of the popular vote there, more that twice McCain's count. So either way you slice it, the Democrats in West Virginia were way more energized than the Republicans . (H/T to Think Progress commenter " shoeless .")

I hate to break it to you, but there's three things to consider about your well-deserved yet predictable victory: The demographics of West Virginia was highly in your favor : women older than 60; a majority with no college education; a state noticeably right-of-center. On top of that, the people of this state overwhelmingly believed that despite his words to the contrary, Sen. Obama supports the words and beliefs of Rev. Jeremiah Wright 100%. In other words: you should have won by more than 33-37%, more like 50-60%. Especially considering that your campaign supporters were being welcome with open arms while Sen. Obama's supporters were getting doors slammed in their faces and being sworn at. As Daily Kos diarist kubla000 points out , you margin of victory doesn't really compare to Obama's blowout wins. He won D.C. by 52%, but many dismissed it because of it's demographics. Why can't the same argument be used for your victory tonight? According to the Washington ...