manchin is a jerk. He's the type of guy that would try to sell you ice cubes if you lived in the arctic. He has more of my ire than I can disagree with myself over but others might beg to differ.
That was back in February. Manchin and his buddies gave up on the third party thing. And Romney said no from the start. Even proposing him as a VP candidate was insulting. After all, he'd been nominated by the party as its presidential candidate in 2012, and he came close to winning.