This ad from the American Energy Alliance against Congressman Nick Rahall is not precisely subtle:

[youtube]xqKqNTxNWUM[/youtube]

…which does not mean that it’s incorrect. Basically: in 2013 Rahall voted for the Progressive Caucus’s budget amendment. Said amendment relied on a carbon tax; carbon taxes are bad news to West Virginia coal miners, given that you tax things when you don’t want more of it; and Nick Rahall is apparently an idiot for thinking that this wouldn’t show up in an attack ad against him. It was certainly more or less predicted, back in 2013:

The leaders of the National Republican Congressional Committee couldn’t believe their luck.

The NRCC had already made up its mind to target long-time West Virginia Democratic Congressman Nick Rahall in the 2014 election. But then Rahall delivered up a softball, a vote that, while largely symbolic, played right into the hands of his opponents.

…Indeed, indeed. I personally suspect that this vote was one of the major reasons why Rahall decided not to run for Senate. It may also very well be the thing that keeps him from serving another term in Congress.

Moe Lane (crosspost)