No Both Sides or Horserace. Just lay out the real-world stakes for Joe Manchin's constituents.

There are actual journalistic solutions to the crises of Both Siderism and Horserace coverage, both of which have completely screwed up the story of how the president is trying to shove an overwhelmingly popular economic agenda through the rathole that is the United States Congress. One of the more conspicuous clogs in the process is, obviously, the senior senator from West Virginia. There is a way to illustrate the cost of Joe Manchin's obstructionism without resorting to either of those two hoary dodges—or without jumping up and down, red-faced and howling, for that matter. The New York Times demonstrates the best way to do that.

Climate change is warming the air, allowing it to hold more moisture, which causes more frequent and intense rainfall. And no state in the contiguous United States is more exposed to flood damage than West Virginia, according to data released last week. From the porch of his riverfront house, Jim Hall, who is married to Mr. Manchin’s cousin, recounted how rescue workers got him and his wife out of their house with a rope during a flood in 2017. He described helping his neighbors, Mr. Manchin’s sister and brother-in-law, clear out their basement when a storm would come. He calls local officials when he smells raw sewage in the river.

There is a microphone falling to the floor.

Mr. Manchin, a Democrat whose vote is crucial to passing his party’s climate legislation, is opposed to its most important provision that would compel utilities to stop burning oil, coal and gas and instead use solar, wind and nuclear energy, which do not emit the carbon dioxide that is heating the planet. Last week, the senator made his opposition clear to the Biden administration, which is now scrambling to come up with alternatives he would accept. Mr. Manchin has rejected any plan to move the country away from fossil fuels because he said it would harm West Virginia, a top producer of coal and gas. Mr. Manchin’s own finances are tied to coal: he founded a family coal brokerage that paid him half a million dollars in dividends last year.

And there we are. Actual reporting illustrating the actual situation on the ground that the administration is trying to ameliorate, as well as Manchin’s intractability and devotion to a dying energy source that’s helped make him rich. Hell, they even found a member of his family to give witness.

The new data shows that Mr. Manchin’s constituents stand to suffer disproportionately as climate change intensifies. Unlike those in other flood-exposed states, most residents in mountainous West Virginia have little room to relocate from the waterways that increasingly threaten their safety.

Adding to the problem, West Virginia officials have struggled to better protect residents, despite a surge of federal money, experts say. They point to a reluctance among state officials to even talk about climate change, and to housing that is not built for the challenge, leaving West Virginia less able than other parts of the country to adapt. The measure that Mr. Manchin opposes, a clean electricity program, may be the last chance for Congress to reduce planet-warming emissions before the effects of climate change become catastrophic.

It takes work, but it’s not that hard once the work is done. There’s this thing called the real world, and in that real world there are things called consequences, and, in the best of all possible worlds, the media brings to the people living in the real world enough information to enforce real-world consequences on their elected representatives.

The state also ranks highest for the share of fire stations (57 percent) and police stations (50 percent) exposed to a 100-year flood.

And West Virginia ties with Louisiana for the greatest share of schools (38 percent) and commercial properties (37 percent) at risk.

“The geography and topography of the state results in many homes, roads and pieces of critical infrastructure being built along rivers, around which we show extensive flooding,” said Michael Lopes, a spokesman for First Street.

But topography isn’t all that raises West Virginia’s flood risk. Surface mining for coal has removed soil and vegetation that once absorbed rain before it reached creeks and rivers, and has pushed rocks and dirt into those waterways, making them less able to contain large volumes of water.

None of those specific threats will be in any way be affected by whether or not you’re worried about inflation, or The Deficit, or whether or not Terry McAuliffe’s poll numbers in Virginia are troubling news for the Democrats—who, you may have heard, are in Disarray. It’s hard to care whether someone’s a “moderate” when his constituents are floating away.