Senate races set in W. Virginia, Louisiana

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Popular Gov. Joe Manchin won the Democratic nomination Saturday and will face GOP primary winner and wealthy businessman John Raese in the race to fill the Senate seat vacated by the late Robert C. Byrd.

Raese defeated a crowded field of Republicans and becomes part of the GOP quest to dismantle the Democratic Senate majority.

In Louisiana, scandal-tainted Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter easily beat two little-known challengers and will meet Democratic Rep. Charlie Melancon, who won his party’s primary, in November.

Vitter survived a 2007 prostitution scandal after he admitted an unspecified “serious sin” after his phone number appeared in the records of a Washington prostitution ring.

The primary in West Virginia was hastily called after Byrd, a 92-year-old Democrat elected to a record ninth term in 2006, died June 28.

Manchin won his seventh-straight statewide campaign. He enjoys high approval ratings and was seen as a comforter-in-chief to victims’ families following the Upper Big Branch mine explosion, which killed 29 workers in April, and the Sago mine disaster in 2006.

“I’m running for the U.S. Senate to represent all the people,” said Manchin, 63. “It’s going to be a sprint now and we’re prepared.”

Manchin’s support from coal and utility industries – which have provided more than a quarter of the $1.2 million he has raised since declaring his candidacy last month – may help him overcome national GOP attempts to paint him as a liberal who will side with President Barack Obama’s administration.