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enlarge It’s some good news for the President at a time when he can use it. This special election was a squeaker, and using ads funded by outside groups that tied Earl Ray Tomblin to the President made inroads – fortunately, not enough to cost him the election: CHARLESTON, West Virginia – Democrat Earl Ray Tomblin held on for a narrow victory in a special election for governor of West Virginia on Tuesday that had tightened after Republicans ran ads tying him to President Barack Obama. Tomblin, who has been acting governor, defeated businessman Bill Maloney, who has never held elected office, by about 3 percentage points. About two hours after the polls closed at 7:30 p.m., West Virginia MetroNews radio projected Tomblin would win. With 89 pct of precincts reporting, Tomblin led Maloney by 50 percent to 47 percent, or 131,408 votes to 123,062 votes for the Republican. Three other candidates had 2 percent support or less. The court-ordered special election had become as much about the Democratic president as about the candidates on the ballot in the last days before the vote, as outside groups poured millions of dollars into the campaign to try to link Tomblin with Obama. Tomblin’s narrow win spared the president and his Democratic Party a third special election loss within the past three weeks, just as Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign gains steam.