{Charleston, West Virginia}...Tuesday, a number of West Virginia Democrats sent a message to President Barack Obama that they would rather see a convicted felon at the top of their ticket in November. Keith Judd, a Beaumont Federal Correctional Institution inmate currently serving a 17½ year sentence in Texas after making threats at the University of New Mexico in 1999, received 41 percent of the vote in the primary election, while President Obama received 59 percent. Judd also won nearly as many votes as leading Republican candidate Mitt Romney. The State Constitution says you can't run if you're currently serving time for a felony in prison or on parole, but Secretary of State Natalie Tennant says Judd filled out the proper paperwork for the seat and paid the $2,500 filing fee from prison. Robert Rupp, a history professor at West Virginia Wesleyan, expects some national attention to fall on West Virginia for its near approval of a convicted felon, but he says he doesn't expect those protest votes to transfer to Romney's totals come November. Senate Judiciary Chairman Corey Palumbo says an inmate getting 40 percent of the vote is embarrassing.
