BARBOURSVILLE -- Gov. Joe Manchin visited the Barboursville 4-H Club on Saturday afternoon to help raise support for his re-election campaign.
Manchin spoke about providing health care for all working West Virginians, improving student education, bringing more jobs to the state, taxes and more about his past four years as governor.
The event was sponsored by the Democratic Women's Club in Cabell County. Mary Ann Glenn, president of the club, said the group's main goal is to hold events where people may be informed about the issues affecting West Virginia.
"I was very pleased with what Manchin had to say. I think that he talked about the issues that Cabell and Wayne counties wanted to hear about," Glenn said.
Most of the audience cheered along with Manchin's speech, but some in the audience had concerns about some of the issues.
Bob Nelson, a former mayor of Huntington, said he thought that Manchin gave a good summary of his time in office, and that he has done a good job dealing with most problems.
"I cannot help but think that he is only hitting the surface. I think that his administration focuses too heavily on pigeonholing students into careers far too early," Nelson said. "That narrows their education and concerns me about their future involvement in the community. I'm just not sure that business should be the most important thing in the long run."
Manchin responded to that concern by saying that he does not believe that he is focusing only on career placement.
"I've always said if you are going to have a healthy populace, it must be balanced with all sorts of education, but we are losing skill sets. There must be a balance. We need all levels of education and jobs in order to build a quality workforce," Manchin said.
Manchin's plan to provide health care for every working West Virginian seemed to elicit the most positive reaction from his audience.
"The only segment of people I see not receiving help for health care are the working people. The people that drive our economy forward. I want to change that so that all you need to receive health care is a W-2 form," Manchin said.
Manchin also is pushing a program that provides medical screenings for children entering school with periodic screenings throughout their school years to generate a healthy workforce.
"I was very impressed by (Manchin's) concept of the creation of the nation's healthiest workforce," said Philip Carter, a social work professor at Marshall University. "The idea of screening children for medical issues as you would basic math, reading, and social skills seems like a very holistic approach. As a social work professor, I think that it is a very doable vision with great possibilities,"
Some at the event said Manchin is a "shoe-in" for re-election, but he said he is working hard to gain support for his administration.
"We have accomplished so much, but if voters vote for what I have done in the past, they are voting for the wrong reason. They should vote for me because of what I now intend to do," Manchin said.
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