Article snippet: MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — A former coal CEO’s post-prison rise is scrambling the GOP battle to unseat Democratic Sen. MORE (W.Va.). Don Blankenship, released from jail less than a year ago, now appears to be within striking distance of the party’s nomination. Strategists — and even his primary opponents — acknowledge he’s managed to turn an expected showdown between Rep. MORE (W.Va.) and Attorney General Patrick Morrisey into a three-way fight with roughly a month to go until the May 8 primary election. “It is a weird little race right now, [but] it’s looking like a legitimate three-person race,” said a national GOP strategist who is monitoring the Senate fight. Blankenship’s anti-establishment message is resonating in a state that has turned increasingly red. Recent internal polling from Morrisey and Jenkins place him in second place — with first place varying based on the candidate releasing the polling. “I’m an anti-establishment. Have been long before I ever heard of Trump or looked at politics,” Blankenship told The Hill outside a candidate forum in Martinsburg, W. Va. It’s a dramatic turnaround for a man who has been out of prison for less than a year. Blankenship was sentenced to a year after the 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine exploded, killing 29 miners. Government investigators concluded the blast was caused by Blankenship’s company’s failure to clean up coal dust sufficiently. In Blankenship’s version, he was targeted by the Obama administration and Manchin, ... Link to the full article to read more