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The chairman of the Republican National Committee said Friday the GOP must return to its core values to reconnect with voters in time for the 2008 campaign.Mike Duncan, a native of nearby Inez, Ky., also told a packed room at the Gayan Country Club in Huntington that West Virginia was again going to be an important state in the upcoming presidential campaign.Duncan is tentatively scheduled to be a guest on Hoppy Kercheval's "Talkline" program on the MetroNews statewide radio network Monday morning.Secretary of State Betty Ireland met with Duncan prior to the beginning of the dinner Friday and sat next to him throughout the evening, no doubt discussing scenarios for the 2008 elections. Ireland is likely to seek a different office in '08 or sit out the election entirely.Also on hand was House of Delegates minority leader Tim Armstead, and local Delegates Kelli Sobonya, Carol Miller and Troy Andes. Aside from the college basketball tournaments, the most interesting game being played out right now is West Virginia University pretending to conduct a search for a new president.Everyone knows the next president will be Mike Garrison. You know it, your neighbor knows it, your pet parakeet knows it. There's about as much doubt as to the identity of the next WVU president as there is about whether The Charleston Gazette will endorse a Democrat or Republican for president next year.Not that everyone is happy about it. Several political insiders last week griped privately about WVU's failure to seek out a true educator or someone with experience as a college president, as do most major universities. But they realize the die has been cast -- Garrison, formerly Gov. Bob Wise's chief of staff, is closely tied to the Goodwin family, and Steve Goodwin is chair of the search committee. It's a done deal.Garrison's selection would not be precedent setting. Current WVU president David Hardesty was an attorney and served as the state tax commissioner. Despite his lack of education experience, his political ties were enough to secure the presidency of the state's major university back in 1995.Just for fun, WVU is pretending there are two other candidates for the job -- Daniel Bernstine, president of Portland State University, and Duane Nellis, provost of Kansas State University and former dean of the WVU Eberly College of Arts and Sciences. Both are obviously more qualified, but have no shot. Nevertheless, they have agreed to go through the motions. After all, it doesn't hurt the resume to be listed as a finalist for a major college presidency, even if they have as much chance of actually landing the job as Jack Whittaker does of opening a financial consulting agency.
Cabell County Sheriff Kim Wolfe, who ran against Congressman Nick Joe Rahall last year, was present, as was Marty Gearhart, who has run unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination to challenge Rahall in the past.Gearhart will likely seek the office again next year, but indications are Wolfe will take a pass. National Committeeman Jim Reed was on hand to welcome Duncan, and yours truly represented state Chairman Doug McKinney, who was out of state on business. On hand too was former state chair David Tyson.Cabell County GOP Chairman John Morris has suffered some health scares in recent weeks, but he was at the dinner Friday and told the audience that he, like the party, was in "spring training" and getting healthier for the battles to come.Duncan expressed a personal fondness for West Virginia, and noted his wife is from Huntington. He recounted various previous visits to the state, including with President Bush, who, he noted, has visited West Virginia 20 times as president.After months of silence following his mysterieous exit from his duties as a U.S. Attorney, Kasey Warner was all over the news last week, emerging to comment about a recent trip he took to Tajikistan and offer his thoughts on the current controversy surrounding the firing of eight U.S. attorneys by the Bush administration.Warner has not been connected with the other dismissed prosecutors, but in interviews with The Charleston Gazette, Charleston Daily Mail and The Associated Press, he defended the character and ethics of some of the fired attorneys whom he knows personally. Warner said since leaving office he has been spending time teaching foreign governments how to root out political corruption.