Cabell County Sheriff Kim Wolfe waited patiently for the end of the Huntington Rotary meeting Monday to talk with Mike Stadjuhar.

Stadjuhar, a vice president at BB&T by day who analyzes politics as a hobby, just got done telling the crowd John McCain should "easily carry West Virginia" in November over Barack Obama. Stadjuhar has a pretty good track record on these things. He frequently speaks with Rotary clubs about his predictions.

Wolfe wanted to know if the Republican presidential nominee's expected win in the Mountain State will have any trickle down benefits for other Republican candidates, like, say a candidate for mayor of Huntington.

Wolfe did not exactly hear what he wanted. The analysis isn't that good for Republican Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito either.

"Many Democrats will vote for McCain, but then to prove they're good Democrats will then vote a Democrat-down ballot," Mike Stadjuhar predicts. "Which means I think it'll be another tough race for Shelley Capito. Now she survived in 2006 so she can survive again. It'll be a very close race. I do not see it being an easy race for her."

Incidentally, the campaign team for Anne Barth, the Democrat facing Capito for the 2nd Congressional District, sent out two press releases touting a Cook Political Report note that this race moved from the "likely Republican" category to the "lean Republican" category. It's the second such move in Barth's favor, according to the release.

Stadjuhar doesn't think West Virginia will play much of a role in the outcome of this presidential election. He thinks it comes down to Ohio and Michigan. He also threw Indiana in for good measure, but he thinks it'll go to McCain in the end. Stadjuhar thinks Obama will win the popular vote by 1-2 million, but as Al Gore knows all too well, the popular vote winner does not become president. At this point, Stadjuhar calls Obama the likely winner in the electoral college.

Stadjuhar says the Republican brand isn't there this year. He sees a demographic shift taking place in the country with Eisenhower Republicans dying off and Generation Y Democrats graduating to voting age. He says there is a disproportionately Democratic generational shift taking place in the country right now.

Other Stadjuhar thoughts:

-Democrats will win big in Congress. He says the real number to watch is if Dems can get to 60 seats in the Senate and more control.

-Sorry all you Hillary fans. Stadjuhar does not foresee an Obama/Clinton ticket. Stadjuhar thinks Senator Joe Biden from Delaware is a likely pick. He thinks the smartest pick would be Senator Jim Webb from Virginia, who worked in the Reagan administration. Other choices could be Kathleen Sebelius, the governor of Kansas, or a military general. (Although he thinks Wes Clark took himself out of the running last week with his comments about McCain.)

-On the GOP side, Stadjuhar thinks McCain will wait until Obama picks and then make his choice. He says Tim Pawlenty, Governor of Minnesota, could be a choice. He doesn't think Palenty would help or hurt McCain. He thinks Mitt Romney is an intriguing pick who could secure wins in New Hampshire, Michigan, Colorado and Nevada. He thinks McCain needs to be more dramatic. For those choices, Stadjuhar suggests Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who is 36 (but looks 26 according to Stadjuhar), a non political choice of former eBay CEO Meg Whitman or Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

-Ralph Nader and Bob Barr may not play much of a role with third party runs this year.