He's desperately trying to pander to his constituents and stay in the news. This is merely his latest stunt.

Edit: not up for re-election.

No, Sen. Manchin is not up for re-election in this election cycle. His term expires in January 2017, with an election in November 2016: http://www.periodicalpress.senate.gov/reelection-2016/

Of course he's up for re-election in the sense that all congresscritters are up for re-election unless they declare otherwise. And I don't think anyone on HN would dispute "pandering" and "staying in the news!"

My bad. Edited post.

Still a panderer, like most of his ilk.

To whom is he pandering to?

The "silent majority".

I would bet that the constituents of a West Virginia senator generally don't care about alternative currencies. They are more worried about the coal industry.