WV Switching from Primary to Convention

[Spirit of '76]

Spirit of 76:

I'm confused. They're not going to have a primary? If not, who do they say is going to "appoint" the nominee? What state are you in?

If they are in fact NOT going to have a primary, then all kinds of hell needs to be raised by someone. We need to be sure of the facts first though.



I'm kind of confused, too. Here's the only public information they've released so far:



Dear Friends -

Welcome to the official website of the 2008 West Virginia Republican Presidential Convention! We're excited about West Virginia's important role in the 2008 Presidential Race, and this website is certain to be your one-stop shop to learn and to stay connected with West Virginia Republicans during this process.

The national political scene is changing rapidly and we in West Virginia are making big changes, too. The Republican Presidential candidate is selected through a process as the states select their delegates to the National Convention. While most states will be holding primaries on February 5, the earliest allowable date in accordance with Party rules, West Virginia is the only state that will be picking its delegates in a live, all-in-one-place, winner-take-all convention. And because we are hosting a convention instead of a primary, West Virginia will be the first state on "Super Duper Tuesday" to have a clear decision on who our nominee will be.

We also chose the convention format because it allows so many West Virginians to become personally involved in making this very important decision. Please get involved and stay tuned to this website for many exciting announcements about the Convention.

If you are a presidential candidate or part of a campaign, you will want to register to run, sponsor links as part of this site, and check back frequently to see messages from other campaigns.

The slates for national convention delegates will be named by the Presidential Candidates, so if you want to be a delegate to the national convention, you will want to contact the presidential campaign you support. The contact information for each campaign will be included on this site as soon as they register for the convention.

If you want to be a delegate to our State Convention, you'll need to register. After you register, you can encourage your friends to vote for you on-line in January or at a caucus meeting if your county is holding a caucus. Check this site for registration and schedule information.

If you are a West Virginia Republican who is as concerned about the future of this great country as I am, you should get involved. Consider becoming a delegate to the State Convention, and also be sure to vote on-line for the delegates who will best represent you. This site will be your one-stop shop for all the information you need!

The West Virginia Republican Presidential Convention IS an important step in selecting the next President of the United States, and I urge you to get involved and stay informed. We'll be unveiling more content on this site over the summer so be sure to sign-up for email updates so you'll be the first to know when new information is available.

Sincerely,

Bob Fish, CEO
WVGOP Presidential Convention, Inc.

http://www.wvgopconvention.com/


I registered to receive more information when it becomes available, but haven't heard anything yet.

[LarryWhite]

http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2006/03/west_virginias.html

This website has a good explanation of the process, and isn't as confusing as the other info I've seen.

You have to be a Republican to vote for the state convention delegates, and the only requirement to be a state delegate is to be registered republican by September 1st and eligible to vote in the 2008 election.

People can sign up independently to be state delegates to the state convention, the campaign itself has to provide the list of the delegates that would go to the national convention if Ron Paul won the state convention.

It's doable if we get enough people being delegates and spreading the word around their county. I'm going to start a delegate list for the state convention this weekend at the next meetup meeting, just to get the ball rolling and have some sort of list of supporters. Not that I'm anyone important, just trying to help since the campaign will probably not have a presence here in WV for awhile, if at all. I was going to do it for Kanawha anyway and thought what's a few more spreadsheets.

I'm the organizer of the Charleston WV meetup group at

ronpaul.meetup.com/239

There is a message section about the GOP process, and fliers in the files section with all the dates and website information. Feel free to check it out, and if you are interested in signing up to be a state delegate send me an email from the metup site, I'll keep a list by county and pass it on whenever it's needed.

[Spirit of '76]

Larry,

Thanks for the link. I think it clarifies a few things. Several of us from up here in Mountaineer Country met for breakfast this past Sunday to discuss strategy.

I'm definitely interesting in getting on as a delegate. I'll PM you my email info so we can discuss this further.

[LarryWhite]

Sounds good. It'll be this evening before I can respond, I'm at work now on lunch and they have gmail blocked here.

[Spirit of '76]

Sounds good. It'll be this evening before I can respond, I'm at work now on lunch and they have gmail blocked here.

Cool. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Let's win this thing. :)

[pyrazole2]

How's that delegate list coming? I'll get you to add my name...soon as I meet you folks!

[Hurricane Bruiser]

I'm now heading up the meetup group for Marietta OH which has crossover from Parkersburg, WV. We haven't set up a Parkersburg meetup yet and won't until the Marietta group gets large enough. I would be interested in being a delegate or helping out in any way.

It looks like we could use some college recruitment since the vote will be online. We might be able to swamp it pretty good if we get in touch with young voters in WV.

[Spirit of '76]

We're having a meeting at the Panera in Clarksburg (Eastpointe Center) on Saturday the 18th at 2:00PM.

You should come over. There should be other people coming from the Parkersburg area, so perhaps you could carpool.

[LarryWhite]

I originally thought having to pay the $5000 fee by Sept 1st would cut Fred Thompson out of the race. I might be wrong about that, wvgop.org under Presidential Candidates now has Thompson's picture on it. It wasn't there a week or two ago.

[bbachtung]

They still list Tommy Thompson and Jim Gilmore, though. It does appear from reading the instructions for qualifying for the convention as a candidate for the 2008 nomination only requires $5,000 AND:



If the form is submitted by a committee, group or organization that promotes the nomination or election of a person who is qualified under the laws of the United States to serve as President of the United States the form may be unsigned. Submit a letter identifying the committee, group or organization and the candidate being supported.


You can view the instructions (in PDF) here: http://www.wvgopconvention.com/content/img/f40884/Instructions_for_Filing_President.pdf

Does anyone know if RP's campaign is going to file (or has filed)?

[Spirit of '76]

Does anyone know if RP's campaign is going to file (or has filed)?

The gentleman in charge, Joe Becker, has told us that they are, but he has not been very forthcoming with information.

I have a feeling he's grossly overworked, if he is in fact in charge of this process for all 50 states.

[bbachtung]

According to the WVGOP website, there will still be a statewide primary to choose some delegates in May. Registration for the statewide primary election is separate from registration for the convention.

[bbachtung]

I hope they have their shit together. We'll know on September 2 because that's when the forms filed by candidates will be posted on wvgopconvention.com

[Cowlesy]

The gentleman in charge, Joe Becker, has told us that they are, but he has not been very forthcoming with information.

I have a feeling he's grossly overworked, if he is in fact in charge of this process for all 50 states.

Yeah I have a feeling Joe Becker is swamped too. On that note, he did mention that he has several law firms on retainer at his disposal. The law is so different in each state, that it literally takes a large legal team to sort it all out. If you can, get your hands on the State election law and the State Republican Committee rules for your state, and start digging into it. We all can read even if it's a lot of legal mumbo-jumbo. Once the national campaign gets ready to start the balloting process in each state, I imagine the national campaign's legal team will be in touch with leaders of meetup groups to help enlist volunteers.

Probably the most important thing any person can do TODAY, is find out in your state what is the cut-off date for SWITCHING party enrollments so that one can vote in the Presidential Primary in 2008. It took us a while to finally nail down that October 12, 2007 is the date from the Board of Elections. We'll need all the LP Party, Democrat and Independent's support we can get to finish huge in the Primary---and to vote in NY, they need to be registered REPUBLICANS. Those who aren't even registered to vote TYPICALLY but not ALWAYS have much more time to register for the first time (in NY it's 25 days prior to the Primary to vote in the Primary, and 25 days prior to the General Election to vote in the General Election).

[Spirit of '76]

Yeah, the trouble is they've been changing the rules every few weeks. They've switched some of the deadlines around a few times already.

It's been very confusing.

[LarryWhite]

Dr Paul will be on the ballot in WV!!!

http://sundaygazettemail.com/section/News/2007082910?pt=0

It's down deep in the article, but they mention 4 candidates have already paid, and Dr Paul is one of them. Guiliani and Romney have both paid, not sure who the 4th is.

[Spirit of '76]

Just got an email from someone who tried to register, but was told that no one who changed parties in the last 60 days is eligible.

There goes that plan...

[Gabriel]

Just got an email from someone who tried to register, but was told that no one who changed parties in the last 60 days is eligible.

There goes that plan...


?!

That's NOT what the convention rules say.

"All registered Republicans may participate in the election of delegates to the State Convention."

The situation with delegate candidates may be different, but just for voting in the county elections there's no cutoff.

Please ask your someone to pursue this issue further, either by contacting the state GOP again to argue that decision, or by making the correspondence public so that someone else can push forward on their behalf.

[BiPolarBear]

I sent in my registration to be a delegate today. Looking at the list of current registrants, there are quite a few that say "Uncommitted". Has anyone considered a direct-mail campaign to these individuals? Maybe send them the Ron Paul dvd and other information?

The list can be found on this page: http://wvgopconvention.com/delegate/contentview.asp?c=42045

Rob - Martinsburg WV (Berkeley County)