Opinion Why is Sen. Joe Manchin running America? He’s a most skilled dealmaker. I’ve seen it up close The Watchdog was 20 feet away when Manchin struck his first big political deal almost 40 years ago. Manchin denied it, but it happened. Sen. Joe Manchin is a make-or-break senator. As the 50th vote in a tied Senate, he's the ultimate dealmaker. Watchdog Dave Lieber watched him make his first big political deal almost 40 years ago. "He's a horse trader supreme," Lieber writes. It’s easy to see that U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin III, likely the most conservative Senate Democrat, is a wheeler-dealer par excellence. Or as they’d say in his home state of West Virginia, “He comes by it honestly.”