GOP Convention Update

Seven GOP presidential candidates remain in the running to lock up 18 of West Virginia's delegates to the Republican National Convention.

Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, John McCain, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson have all filed final registration papers for the Feb. 5 state convention, and submitted slates of the 18 each wants to send to Minneapolis-St. Paul in September.

Of the remaining candidates who missed the Dec. 31 deadline, only Alan Keyes had state convention delegates pledged to him. All six face contested races for their at-large seats, however.

The slates, meanwhile, show that several delegates pledged to no candidate at the state convention have committed to representing one at the national convention. Mitt Romney has the most of those, at six.

Online voting has begun to resolve contested at-large seats in 30 counties, though it's unclear how many state GOP members have registered to cast ballots that way. Counties can also hold local conventions to settle their at-large slots. Five _ Berkeley, Marion, Morgan, Pleasants and Woods, have already held theirs. Conventions are scheduled in eight others: Fayette, Harrison, Jefferson, Mineral, Monongalia, Nicholas (underway), Ohio and Tucker.

The Parkersburg News and The Intelligencer of Wheeling each have stories on the local voting in those areas.