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West Virginia has apparently become the perfect scenario for White House political guru Karl Rove to use as the best example of how a Republican can win a Democrat state.The West Virginia Record, the Charleston-based newspaper focusing on legal issues, recently featured a story on a speech by Karl Rove during which the Bush confidante recollected on how Bush-Cheney won West Virginia in 2000.At a recent Lincoln Day Dinner speech in Illinois, Rove recalled how West Virginia -- long a dependable vote for the Democrat candidate in presidential races -- turned Bush's way in 2000.Rove began by saying that Abraham Lincoln offered the best blueprint for Election Day victory. Lincoln, according to Rove, advised, "Make a perfect list of the voters, ascertain with certainty for whom they will vote, have the undecideds talked to by someone whom they hold in confidence. And on Election Day, make certain that every Whig is brought to the polls."Rove said he met with West Virginia GOP leaders at a "crummy little hotel in Charleston" as the 2000 campaign was just getting started. (In 2000 I was still a year away from coming to West Virginia, but I guarantee you, the Bush folks did not meet in a "crummy" little hotel, unless the Marriott or Embassy Suites qualifies as such.)Nevertheless, Rove remembers telling the assembled West Virginians, "We want you to make a couple hundred thousand phone calls, knock on a hundred thousand doors and put up fifteen thousand yard signs and … have three headquarters and this many bumper stickers. You do this, and we'll run television ads. And the presidential and the vice presidential candidates will come here three times. You raise this little bit of money, and we'll give you this big bunch of money in order to do this."Recalls Rove, "So being stupid enough not to know that it couldn't be done, they said, 'OK, we'll try.' And they did it."Rove doesn't mention any names of those assembled for that meeting, but they undoubtedly included Bill Phillips and John McCutcheon, and maybe then-chairman David Tyson.Rove remembers coming back to West Virginia two years later, right after the filing deadline for the 2002 election. Again not mentioning any names but this time obviously referring to Kris Warner, Rove recalls, "The state party chairman comes up to me and says, 'You can't believe it. We've had more people file for county office and state Legislature than we've ever had file for office in the history of the modern Republican Party in West Virginia.'" (That's the year we picked up seven House and four Senate seats.)In conclusion, Rove said, "And you know why it happened? Because the grassroots of the party reinvigorated itself and renewed its commitment to do exactly what Lincoln said in 1840." The Republican Gazette welcomes Emails to the Editor and press releases. All submitted items must include the name and contact information for the author of the article, and all articles will only be published with the author's name included. Thank you for reading and participating in The Republican Gazette, another of West Virginia's most biased publications.A recent story in a new national political journal called The Politico focused on the Democrats' need to put West Virginia and Arkansas back in their column in order to win the White House in 2008.The article notes that both states were dependably Democratic in presidential races until 2000 and 2004. Hillary Clinton is the frontrunner for the Democrat nomination, and the former First Lady of Arkansas would likely bring home her old turf. So how does she carry West Virginia? Hmmmm.... How could she do that.... ??Fellow Internet theorist Sen. Vic Sprouse thinks Mojo is out of the running because of his pro-life creds, but I respectfully disagree. I think the Dems have finally decided that winning trumps catering to any specific interest group. A Clinton-Manchin ticket would guarantee Arkansas and West Virginia in the D column. Those two states combined bring with them only 11 electoral votes. But without at least one of them, putting together an electoral map that comes up with a Republican winner requires nearly every swing state breaking the GOP's way.In a Thursday editorial, The (Martinsburg) Journal commended the state Senate for considering reductions in business and corporate taxes.Said The Journal, "These constitute real tax reform, not the panty-waist tax reform — if it can be called reform — that Gov. Joe Manchin called for during the special session last fall."Wow. Go Journal.With the gambling bill emerging from a Senate committee on Thursday, the stage is set for a full Senate vote Tuesday.After some House-Senate differences are resolved, it will go to Gov. Manchin for his signature, where his legacy will be established as the governor who brought table games to West Virginia.