1 pm: 39°FPartly Sunny

3 pm: 40°FPartly Sunny

5 pm: 39°FPartly Sunny

7 pm: 35°FClear

More Weather

Print | E-mail to a friend FEATURED

Share This |

Cline bows out of U.S. Senate race

January 30, 2008 @ 03:23 PM

BRYAN CHAMBERS

Herald-Dispatch.com

HUNTINGTON — Local hotel manager Phil Cline withdrew his candidacy for U.S. Senate on Wednesday.

Cline, general manager of the Pullman Plaza Hotel in downtown Huntington, decided to bow out of the race after realizing he was not the only GOP candidate on the ticket for West Virginia’s junior Senate seat, now occupied by Democrat Jay Rockefeller.

Republican Jay Wolfe of Harrison County filed for the seat after Cline submitted his candidacy form on Saturday.

“My intention all along was to be sure that Senator Rockefeller had opposition in the election,” Cline said. “Since I filed, I have had the chance to speak with Mr. Wolfe and he assured me that he is going to launch a spirited campaign for the Senate seat.  My decision not to run allows Mr. Wolfe to focus all his financial and human resources on the general election in the fall.”

Rockefeller is running for his fifth term. He will face Sheirl L. Fletcher of Monongalia County and Billy Hendricks Jr. of Boone County in the Democratic primary.