GOP Convention: The At-Large Factor (Updated)

The unofficial results are in and Mitt Romney has retained his edge of pledged state GOP convention delegates.


Recent voting largely settled the hundreds of contested at-large seats to the Feb. 5 event.

Mike Huckabee also did well, as did Fred Thompson. Each won enough at-large seats to boost their totals above 100.

Among the tidbits:

• Mineral and Monongalia counties ran into voting problems, leaving the fate of 35 at-large seats up in the air;

• 16 party members in five counties who were unopposed for at-large seats ended up losing because no one turned out to vote in those counties (Braxton, Gilmer, Grant, Ritchie, Wirt);

• In the state's largest county, Kanawha, delegates for Romney and Huckabee out-muscled the rest of the field, though Romney ended up with nearly twice as many seats as Huckabee there;

• Of the party members who pledged to Huckabee when they filed to be delegates, nearly 90% won convention seats. That's the highest success rate among pledged delegates;

• John McCain supporters had the lowest success rate, 12%, followed by Rudy Giuliani's at 13%;

• Uncommitted delegates remain a formidable wild card, with the at-large voting increasing their numbers from 390 to 521 _ just under half the delegates seated to date.

The Associated Press has the latest details. The Intelligencer of Wheeling focuses on Ohio County results as well.

Also... The AP's recent analysis of the possible at-large vote outcome (also found here) included this:

The pledged allegiances of those delegates (eligible to vote) suggests that Huckabee is favored to pick up at-large seats in Wayne County, while Fred Thompson should add to his margin in Nicholas County.

Thompson also has a sizable portion of delegates eligible to vote in Berkeley, as does Romney in Kanawha County and Ron Paul in Jefferson and Monongalia counties. Delegate-voters are not the majority in any of those four, however.

While results have not yet been reported for Monongalia County, this assessment proved accurate, as those candidates did indeed make gains in the rest of those counties.

Update: A further crunching of the numbers reveals other interesting details:

• Huckabee was the only candidate to win all at-large seats selected in a given county, and actually pulled that off in two: Cabell and Raleigh (for a hefty total of 48). He also came close in Wayne, getting 11 of 12, while capturing 15 of Putnam County's at-large delegates;

• 145 at-large seats remain unfilled, including the 35 in Mineral and Monongalia counties;

• 23 counties have now filled their at-large slots;

• Uncommitted delegates did best in Wood County, winning 14 of 31 seats, while getting 11 of 31 spots in Berkeley County.

• Two Alan Keyes delegates won at-large seats, in Harrison County, but their candidate is not registered for the convention.