The National Republican Senatorial Committee is hitting back at WVa Senate candidate Joe Manchin again with radio and newspaper ads tying him to Obama. From the WashPost:

In a new full-page ad funded by the NRSC and running in four of the biggest newspapers in the Mountain State, the theme is the same.

It features a picture of Obama standing next to Manchin, who is speaking at a podium. "When President Obama needed Joe Manchin's support, Joe Manchin delivered," reads the headline.

The ad recycles some of the GOP's greatest hits against Manchin -- his past statements supportive of the $800 billion economic stimulus package, the health care legislation and a cap and trade energy bill.

It closes with the line: "A vote for Manchin is a vote for Obama."

The ad is set to run in the Charleston Gazette, Charleston Daily Mail, Beckley Register-Herald and the Huntington Herald-Dispatch.

And see this too from the NYT's Nate Silver, which says Manchin has gone so far right (not only opposing energy legislation, which isn't surprising, but announcing opposition to labor-friendly health care and card-check bills) that the WVa seat could be a lose-even-if-you-win proposition for Democrats:

However, because Mr. Manchin is competing for an abbreviated, two-year Senate term — that vacated by Mr. Byrd when he died — he will essentially be in re-election mode just as soon as he wins office. It is more likely than not that the overall political environment will be better for Democrats in 2012 than it is now — but this may not hold in West Virginia, where Mr. Obama’s presence on the ballot in a Presidential year could motivate conservative and Republican turnout.

Can Democrats count on Mr. Manchin to support any of their major policy initiatives in the next Congress? Other than a few votes on things like extending unemployment insurance, it seems unlikely. Nor is Mr. Manchin likely to be held in check by the threat of a primary challenge, which — in a state where even the Democrats are quite conservative — would be a long-shot to succeed.