Wheeling Dem attacked from right

CQ previews the primary battle facing Wheeling incumbent Dem Alan Mollohan, who faces a challenge from his right in conservative West Virginia state Sen. Mike Oliverio:

Oliverio is running on a platform that focuses heavily on the need to reduce the large federal debt — not exactly a burning issue in Democratic primaries. He opposed increasing the federal debt limit, criticized the 2009 stimulus law that Mollohan and nearly every other Democrat supported, and also has some problems with the new health care law. Oliverio also opposes abortion, gun control and a “cap and trade” system to limit greenhouse gas emissions. West Virginia GOP chairman Doug McKinney even told a Wheeling newspaper recently that Oliverio “has always been a conservative guy” and that “we’ve joked for years he needs to come over to the party who thinks like he does.”

As long as we're going outside the Pa state limits, CQ also notes that freshman Fla congressman Tom Rooney -- the nephew of the ambassador to Ireland -- should cruise to reelection this year, as his Democratic opposition has already dropped out.