John Raese in 2014 WV Senate debate

On Corporations: OpEd: Sounded alarm in 2010 on international competitiveness

So it is that the United States, who a generation ago was the economic master of all it surveyed following World War II, now finds itself struggling to compete against a rising cadre of new economic powers. John Raese, businessman, sounded that alarm, too, in 2010 and 2012. Clearly, he wants us to be able to compete effectively on all fronts again.

That's tough to do when our government has to pay so much of our budget just to pay the interest on a $16 trillion national debt--another Raese deeply-felt concern. Raese's perspective is as valid today as it was then. Given our ongoing economic problems today, his words ring true even more.

On Energy & Oil: 2010 alternative energy bill was WV's own cap-and-trade Bill

This trend against traditional energy sources in West Virginia has continued unabated by the Obama EPA, forcing the closure of over 100 coal operations statewide, with the result of lost jobs and state revenue. [After 2010 as a] US Senator, Manchin has seemed unable or unwilling to do much about this devastating blow to our economy, despite his close personal friendship with President Obama.

John Raese sounded the alarm, demanding that the EPA be made more accountable for their anti-coal bias. Unlike Manchin, Raese could see that a committed liberal like Obama was not likely to change stripes, and he was right.

On Health Care: ObamaCare relies on poor business model; use private-sector

Now all can see what ObamaCare critics like the business-savvy Raese was trying to tell us in 2012, namely what a terribly poor business model ObamaCare has. Without millions of younger Americans to participate in ObamaCare to offset all of the older participants, ObamaCare can't possibly work.

However, what are the odds of getting enough of these young Americans to pay higher health care insurance premiums when they don't feel the need for expensive plans in the first place? Everyone sees this--now. Raese saw problems like this from the beginning.

John Raese was the state's Number One challenger to ObamaCare in his races against Manchin. He tried to tell us.