Romney shows true leadership and respect for our nation

Yesterday Romney announced he is suspending his presidential campaign. He stated, "This is not an easy decision for me. I hate to lose. My family, my friends and our supporters ... many of you right here in this room ... have given a great deal to get me where I have a shot at becoming president. If this were only about me, I would go on. But I entered this race because I love America,"

With the writing on the wall, a lessor man with Romney's financial means could have very easily stayed in the race and in the process damaged the chances of a win for Republican party for the upcoming general election. This, in my opinion, is a mark of true understanding and leadership.

Romney understands that after a long, tough, and emotional primary season that the party will need time to come together. By dropping out he makes that time longer and leadership is more about making the hard decisions than the easy ones. Romney, a true leader, just made a hard leadership decision. Now it is the time to move forward and do what is best for the nation, elect a Republican President.

No Convention Deal, come on...

The Romney camp was outflanked by a misuse of the rules. Or I guess we could call it the Washington interpretation of the rules, or just darn good strategy. How I know? Several people asked me for directions to room 105, where McCain supporters journeyed to and then returned from convinced to vote for Huckabee. Granted Huckabee's supporters could have simply convinced the McCain people to reconsider their positions and been overwhelmingly persuasive to 95% of McCain followers in just about an hour. However, I happened to be standing next to a McCain supporter who had refuted efforts at a conversion to Mitt Romney even quoting that his integrity would be open to question if he switched his vote for political reasons, when he was approached by one of McCain's people and told to vote for Huckabee. That settled it, the fix was implemented, and so the vote went. I have left out names, but would be happy to provide them if denials continue.

What bothers me is not the "deal". Rules allowed for such a deal, and a well timed lunch hour gave the needed break to provide organization from each side. Not to mention, that I am not sure that WV votes even matter as far as this race is concerned. What bothers me is the willingness of the Republican Party leadership to entangle themselves in a nationally publicized mess. McCain and Huckabee are denying involvement in the proceedings...executive privilege already? The leadership from the McCain-Huckabee team gets to take credit for the deal when the time is right and McCain gets the nod and can reward their courageous action. The rest of us are left looking just as bad as the democrats we bash for voter fraud and corruption from Charleston to Washington. Let's be honest, do we republicans actually want to distinguish ourselves, or do we want to keep playing the valiant underdog in each campaign? We are a conservative state, but can't get local and state Republicans elected!? I know the arguments of old school democrats that live conservative but vote democrat, but I have lived here for several years and NEVER heard a republican stand up and advocate their platform in a meaningful way.

The Republican Party is not going to out-maneuver the Democrats in WV. It's not in our blood and is contrary to the message that was on the large banner at the convention.


We advocate less government then design a convention that is so laden with political bureaucracy that we were set up from the start. The well timed lunch was announced as a time to trade horses. At the very least the McCain people could have hidden their intent a little better and wait until McCain was out of the race to dump into the Huckabee camp. But that would have left the second vote up to the delegates and that is something we can't have. So a backroom (room 105) deal was made and the convention was settled. Not to mention that some constituents didn't even know that their primary vote had been superseded by a convention until yesterday; leaving most of the spots for the usual suspects, Party loyalists, executive committee members, and a few hand-picked delegates. A slight tinge of disdain was even evident when I discussed the Ron Paul delegates who had, at the last moment, changed their political affiliation to republican and slipped into a delegate position. Consequently, Ron Paul supporters were the only group in the convention with any level of diversity in their ranks.

Republicans win elections by sharing their message, not through clever political maneuvering. In ideological battles, we win. The American spirit resonates truest in an open market with limitations on government. Those limitations allow individuals to prosper in the endeavors of their choosing, whether those are family, faith, financial, service, or other. It may be too late for this election cycle, but next cycle we might have a chance to band together and come up with a plan and an agenda for this state much like Newt Gingrich came up with in the mid-90s. A coherent message could give us the opportunity to bolster the Republican Party to a position where real change can occur in our state.

The Plot Thickens . . .

So, our great convention experiment has concluded. If nothing else, it has been an eye-opener. Of course, most of the talk is about "The Deal". I have an unique perspective on The Deal, which I will share in the near future. However, I note--with no small degree of glee--the following, as reported in Lawrence Messina's AP wire report:

‘‘There was no backroom deal. There wasn’t even a frontroom deal. There was no deal,’’ [Huckabee] said.

McCain also denied that there was a deal.

‘‘I didn’t have a conversation with (Huckabee) or any of his people about anything to do with it,’’ McCain said at a news conference in Phoenix. ‘‘It’s a bit insulting to Governor Huckabee, who won that, by alleging such a thing.’’

But Paul supporters claimed Tuesday evening that Huckabee’s campaign bought their support with the promise of three West Virginia delegates.

‘‘That’s not true,’’ said Huckabee spokeswoman Alice Stewart.

John Tate, national political director for Paul, insisted that there was a deal even after learning of Stewart’s denial.

--end quote--

First--I'm sorry, Senator McCain and Governor Huckabee, but there WAS a deal.

Second--Part of that deal was for Ron Paul to be bought with 3 national convention delegates.

Third--Ahhh.....what is that? The sweet smell of poetic justice. More to follow. . . .

What part of Illegal don't they understand?

The definition of illegal seems to depend on whether or not you agree with the specific law. I was not brought up that way. I know that the world is not black and white, it is shades of gray. If there is a law you do not agree with, then you work to change it. Not ignore it.

In California they are now selling Marijuana out of a vending machine. Click here for a video from CBS News. How can the Feds ignore a blatant disregard for the law? It is illegal to distribute a controlled substance, and this is now national news. The minute the story ran the Feds, should have been their to shut this operation down.

States debate giving drivers license to illegal aliens. How do you give a legal document to some one that is here illegally? Giving drivers license to legal immigrants is one thing, because that means the have been vetted by the system and are believed not to be criminals. But giving drivers license to someone that came here illegally means we are giving drivers license to people that have never had a background check.

Webster defines illegal as: not according to or authorized by law : unlawful illicit; also : not sanctioned by official rules

At some point we should understand the definition of illegal and act accordingly. All things are generally shades of gray, somethings are closer to black and white. Selling illegal drugs in a vending machine is a lot closer to black and white than gray. Giving drivers license to illegals is also a lot closer to black and white.

Those of that understand right from wrong need to start putting our foot down and say enough is a enough.

Final Vote Tally from the WVGOP Convention

Here are the actual votes from the Convention earlier today...

Second Ballot

MIKE HUCKABEE - 567 VOTES (52%) (+192 from first round)

MITT ROMNEY - 521 VOTES (47%) (+57 from first round)

JOHN McCAIN - 12 VOTES (1%) (-164 from first round)
RON PAUL - ELIMINATED (-118 from first round)

First Ballot
MIKE HUCKABEE - 375 (33%)
MITT ROMNEY - 464 (41%)
JOHN McCAIN - 167 (15%)
RON PAUL - 118 (10%)

Huckabee Wins Brokered WV Convention

After first round of voting Romney lead followe by Huckabee, McCain, and Ron Paul finsihing in last place. This removed Ron Paul from the process. The next vote was between Romney, McCain, and Huckabee.

Huckabee's delegates worked to pick up the Ron Paul vote, and brokered a deal with McCain crew to garner their vote. The deal worked, in the the second round of voting Huckabee picked up 52% of the vote clinching 18 of West Virginia 30 delegates.

Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, and Mike Huckabee were both present at the convention and gave speechs to the over 1000 delegates. McCain was the only candidate not in attendence.

Craig Blair has a plan to save the 304 area code

If you are an individual you may not think that a change in area code is a big deal, but for a business it can lead to a loss in sales. This past week I received a call from a customer. He got our business name out of an old magazine from 2000. After 8 years the magazine ad still generated a phone call, but if the area code changes 18 years of advertising our phone number will be out the window.

The need for an additional area code in WV is contrived at best. The 304 area code has the ability to have 10 million phone numbers. Now with only 1.8 million West Virginians that means each one of us can have up to 5 full phone numbers without the need for another area code. In order to divide them up, the local prefixes would have have greater areas and they are not willing to do that.

The problem is being caused by the proliferation of cell phones. Craig Blair has the best solution. Allow all the land lines to stay with the 304 area code and give all the cell phones a new area code. After all they are causing the problem, not the land lines.

18 WV Delegates at stake this Tuesday

When displaying its Super Tuesday map, FoxNews seems to be omitting our WVGOP Convention the past several days.

I just dropped them a note letting them know that 18 delegates to the Republican National Convention are a stake this Tuesday in West Virginia. (The other 9 are at stake in the May Primary)

You should drop them a note too at: yourcomments@foxnews.com