Republican John Raese is launching a 48-hour fund-raising blitz at the website 51toRepeal.com. Rasmussen’s latest poll has Raese leading Gov. Joe Manchin 48 percent to 46 percent, making Raese a legitimate candidate to be the 51st GOP Senator and a critical factor in the effort to repeal Obamacare. If elected, he would also be the first Republican Senator from West Virginia in 51 years.

The health-care bill is deeply unpopular in West Virginia. After a new round of polling showed Raese in the lead, Manchin suddenly called for a partial repeal of the law, despite initially endorsing the bill and saying in March that he would have voted for it.