A moment to appreciate a fine American | Michael Tomasky

A friend from West Virginia emailed me a little earlier to say "Capito is out, Hechler is in."

Meaning that Shelly Moore Capito, whom I speculated yesterday would seek the Bob Byrd Senate seat, is in fact not running. Seems she had second thoughts about seeking both a House and Senate seat at the same time.

As to the second part of the message, I wrote back: you mean Kenny Hechler has an heir who's a Republican???

No, my friend wrote back. It's Ken Hechler himself who is running.

Why is this...