| In a move that may well be too clever by half, the West Virginia GOP decided to hold a nominating convention on Super Tuesday (Feb. 5, 2008) this cycle. Their thinking is more people will pay attention to them if there are some (but not all?) of the delegates at stake earlier in the process. [For some reason they still want to stick W.Va. tax-payers with a bill for a primary later in the year, too. So much for Republicans as the W.Va. party of fiscal responsibility.]
The deadline for registering as a GOP convention delegate is this Friday. The W.Va. GOP plan was to have so many delegate registrations they'd need county-level mini-conventions to vote on delegates through-out early January before their big convention on Feb. 5. It would be a great plan if, well, there was any Republican presidential candidates who actually excited Republican voters.
Back to the convention plans. They want to have 1,446 party members attend as delegates -- all in order to select 18 of the 30 votes for the Republican nominating convention.
So, how's that process going so far? The Charleston Gazette has the details.
Facing a Friday deadline, West Virginia Republicans have more than 1,100 delegate slots to fill - just over three-fourths of the total - for their ambitious Feb. 5 presidential candidate nominating convention.
Fred Thompson has 55 delegates who intend to support the actor and former Tennessee senator at the "Tsunami Tuesday" event. That's the most so far of any White House hopeful, according to the latest roster posted online Friday.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney follows with 49 delegates wishing to represent him. Ron Paul of Texas has 38. The Texas congressman is edging out former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his 37 committed delegates.
Three of the other presidential candidates registered with the convention - Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter and John McCain - each has at least one delegate. The remaining two, Alan Keyes and Gene Zarwell, have none yet.
Another 148 delegates aren't backing any candidate, giving each GOP contender a chance to win them over at the convention. Organizers hope that will help lure the candidates to the Charleston Civic Center on Feb. 5, when 20 other states are holding caucuses or primaries.
However, organizers have also planned for 1,446 party members to attend the convention as delegates. Only 344 have registered since Nov. 1.
The nominating process provides an illuminating window into which candidates are generating the most interest in the state -- among Republican "notables" and grass-roots activists:
Both Thompson and Romney have two state party officers and two county GOP chairmen among their Feb. 5 convention delegates. However, Thompson also has 11 legislators, while Romney has one.
Among the notable Republican Party figures committed to candidates:
- Thompson: Senate Minority Leader Don Caruth, R-Mercer; House Minority Leader Tim Armstead, R-Kanawha; former Congressman Mick Staton.
- Romney: National Committeewoman Donna Gosney; state school board Vice President Priscilla Haden; former state Supreme Court Justice John McCuskey; Sue McKinney, Harrison County GOP chairwoman and wife of the state chairman.
- Giuliani: Wood County Commission President Rick Modesitt; Sens. Frank Deem of Wood County and Vic Sprouse of Kanawha.
- McCain: Mason County Commissioner Miles Epling; Fayette County GOP Chairman Gary Lilly; former lawmaker and veteran lobbyist Larry Swann.
- Huckabee: Ashley Stinnett, head of the state's Federation of Young Republicans.
- Hunter: Marion County GOP Chairman Andrew Sabak.
- Paul's roster, meanwhile, suggests a more grass-roots appeal; 35 of his 38 delegates are at-large.
The advertisements with a Sprouse endorsement of Giuliani practically write themselves, don't they? The public record of their private lives do show a striking similarity in the "family values" department.
More telling, among Republican presidential candidates only Ron Paul is generating any grassroots excitement in West Virginia. Wouldn't it be ironic if the story coming out of the West Virginia GOP "attempt to be relevant on Super Tuesday" is a surprisingly good Ron Paul showing?
Not to worry, the WV GOP has a plan to make sure that won't happen. There's no way all those empty seats will be filled between now and Friday. Instead, in the very least democratic process possible...
County party committees will have a chance to fill empty delegate spots after the Nov. 30 deadline. State GOP Chairman Doug McKinney can later pick people for seats left unfilled by the county committees.
So, there you have it. Barring an unlikely surge of grass roots interest in the Republican nominating convention between now and Friday, November 30, the candidate receiving over half of the W.Va. support for the Republican presidential nomination will be picked by Republican party officials. |
