bobbyw24
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http://www.huntingtonnews.net/political/080203-rutherford-politicalwvgopconference.html
West Virginia GOP Conference Too Close to Call
More Candidates May Join Ron Paul Tuesday in Charleston
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) - Although not an “official” tsunami Tuesday primary, West Virginia’s first GOP presidential convention has started attracting attention of the front runners. According to Bob Fish, CEO of the WV GOP Convention, Inc. 62% of the delegates are uncommitted, partly due to their registration and partly due to candidates pulling out of the campaign.
Two Republican underdogs --- Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee --- accumulated high percentages of elected delegates. In fact, Paul has raised more bucks through his grassroots internet campaigns in the Mountain State than all Republican candidates combined.
Paul has already announced plans to visit the Super Tuesday hybrid caucus / conference in Charleston. Buzz has surfaced that Mitt Romney, a frontrunner, may be traveling here too.. David Tyson, a former state party chairman, has been working on John McCain, but no update on his status.
Fish speculated in the same interview that any presidential candidate who shows up to make a speech in Charleston could generate enthusiasm and sway the uncommitted on the first ballot.
The state GOP conceived the idea of a convention to attract attention to West Virginia on the day when many states hold their primaries. Mountaineers do not get to vote until May, but delegates from the state at the national Republican convention will have been partly selected from the state convention and from primary vote results.
However, the Wheeling Intelligencer/News Register reported that only 0.6 percent of 343, 231 registered Republicans or 2,100 voters. The low turnout has been attributed to online voting procedures, according to Brent Bush, who received the most votes among those seeking to be an Ohio County delegate. He said the internet process may have interfered with some people voting.
“Registering online was confusing, and it did disenfranchise some people,” Bush said. “Ohio County corrected that by having a county caucus, so it worked well here. Ohio County went smoothly in as much as the people knew how to do it. But as for voting online, my father would never have known how to do it.”
The published Wheeling newspaper article indicated that WVGOP Convention, Inc. could not provide a county-by-county breakdown of the number of Republicans who registered and how many in each county voted.
HNN has received confirmed complaints from a variety of counties of Republicans registering to vote on line, but not receiving a user name and password in the mail to allow them to cast online votes.
Still, Fish has said that having 1,200 WV Republicans in one room at the Charleston Civic Center will be the largest party gathering ever held in the state.
West Virginia GOP Conference Too Close to Call
More Candidates May Join Ron Paul Tuesday in Charleston
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Huntington, WV (HNN) - Although not an “official” tsunami Tuesday primary, West Virginia’s first GOP presidential convention has started attracting attention of the front runners. According to Bob Fish, CEO of the WV GOP Convention, Inc. 62% of the delegates are uncommitted, partly due to their registration and partly due to candidates pulling out of the campaign.
Two Republican underdogs --- Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee --- accumulated high percentages of elected delegates. In fact, Paul has raised more bucks through his grassroots internet campaigns in the Mountain State than all Republican candidates combined.
Paul has already announced plans to visit the Super Tuesday hybrid caucus / conference in Charleston. Buzz has surfaced that Mitt Romney, a frontrunner, may be traveling here too.. David Tyson, a former state party chairman, has been working on John McCain, but no update on his status.
Fish speculated in the same interview that any presidential candidate who shows up to make a speech in Charleston could generate enthusiasm and sway the uncommitted on the first ballot.
The state GOP conceived the idea of a convention to attract attention to West Virginia on the day when many states hold their primaries. Mountaineers do not get to vote until May, but delegates from the state at the national Republican convention will have been partly selected from the state convention and from primary vote results.
However, the Wheeling Intelligencer/News Register reported that only 0.6 percent of 343, 231 registered Republicans or 2,100 voters. The low turnout has been attributed to online voting procedures, according to Brent Bush, who received the most votes among those seeking to be an Ohio County delegate. He said the internet process may have interfered with some people voting.
“Registering online was confusing, and it did disenfranchise some people,” Bush said. “Ohio County corrected that by having a county caucus, so it worked well here. Ohio County went smoothly in as much as the people knew how to do it. But as for voting online, my father would never have known how to do it.”
The published Wheeling newspaper article indicated that WVGOP Convention, Inc. could not provide a county-by-county breakdown of the number of Republicans who registered and how many in each county voted.
HNN has received confirmed complaints from a variety of counties of Republicans registering to vote on line, but not receiving a user name and password in the mail to allow them to cast online votes.
Still, Fish has said that having 1,200 WV Republicans in one room at the Charleston Civic Center will be the largest party gathering ever held in the state.
