As was reported yesterday, Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) has been released from the hospital and is now resting at his home in D.C.
As Senator Byrd’s stay “lengthened and details remained scarce, speculation surfaced in the West Virginia media about who might succeed him in office,” the Washington Post reports.
It turns out that the very man in charge of filling a Senate vacancy, West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin (D), might just clear himself a path to the seat if Senator Byrd has to step down.
If Byrd were unable to return to the Senate, a successor appointed by Gov. Joe Manchin III (D) would hold the seat until a special election in November 2010.
Many West Virginia observers say Manchin himself is interested in the Senate seat. Though he can appoint himself to the position, it is more likely, they say, that Manchin will appoint a “caretaker” to the job who would not run in 2010, allowing the governor to campaign for the post.
