Election 2008: Candidate Filings Begin

West Virginia's 2008 election season kicked off Monday when more than 70 people marked the beginning of the candidacy filing period.

Those turning in the necessary paperwork include "Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, House Majority Leader Joe DeLong and former television news anchor Natalie Tennant," The Associated Press reports.

The latter two filed for Secretary of State as Democrats, and were joined by a Republican candidate for that office, Charles Minimah. Incumbents filing for re-election included Attorney General Darrell McGraw, state Treasurer John Perdue and Auditor Glen Gainer.

"At the top of the ticket were the first three presidential candidates to file paperwork in West Virginia: Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney," the AP's Tom Breen writes.

"When Republican primary voters select a presidential candidate May 13, they will be voting for his slate of congressional district delegates to the national convention," the AP article notes. "This departs from prior elections, when party members could file to run as district or 'at-large' delegates. A Feb. 5 state convention will decide the state GOP's 18 at-large delegates this year."

MetroNews and The Register-Herald of Beckley also report on the opening of the filing period, which ends midnight Jan. 26.

Also, the Secretary of State's office offers four different ways to search for candidacy filings online.