Manchin hints he might leave Senate

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) hinted Monday that he might leave the Senate and will decide at the end of this year whether to run for governor again.

“I’m going to wait until the end of 2014 to see what shakes out, see where we are, what we can do to move this country forward,” he said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” 

“But if the leaders are never going to work together, and try to make something happen; it’s just going to be stalemate as it has been ,and I’ve got to rethink it, too,” he added.

{mosads}He issued a similar statement on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.

Manchin is up for reelection in 2018 and was first elected in 2010 after succeeding the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.). Manchin had previously served as governor of West Virginia from 2005 until 2010. He becomes the state’s senior senator when Sen. Jay Rockefeller retires next year.

“Everything is on the table,” Manchin said.

Manchin added that he wanted to feel “excited to go to work” again.

Manchin said he has a better platform in the Senate to make a difference in the world but confessed he hasn’t witnessed any productiveness in Congress.

“The only thing I have said is, it hasn’t been the most productive time the last three-and-a-half years,” he said. “I haven’t been there when anything has worked.”