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ELECTIONS
Local delegates head to Republican convention
HUNTINGTON -- Four men and two women from Cabell County will join 25 other GOP faithful from around West Virginia for the Republican National Convention that starts Monday in Minnesota.
The Cabell County delegates will leave today by bus and arrive at the convention Sunday.
Of those delegates, four are small-business owners and two are graduate students at Marshall University. Mike Ankrom, owner of Ankrom Properties based in Huntington, planned the road trip and will join his wife at the convention.
Ankrom previously served as the political director of the West Virginia Republican Club. His wife, Nora Ankrom, studies political science at Marshall. The Ankroms, who have a 1-year-old son, are at-large delegates.
Mike Ankrom said he prepared for the convention by watching television coverage of the Democratic National Convention, which concluded Thursday in Denver. The trip promises to be an exciting meeting of Republican faithful, but it will also make clear the challenge ahead in West Virginia prior to the Nov. 4 general election. In a state where voter registration is dominated by Democrats, 56 to 29 percent during the 2008 primary election, Republicans are going to have to work to get every vote they can, he said.
"We want to make sure that people know this is a battleground state," he said. "We're not going to take this election lightly; we're going to have to work hard like we did for President Bush."
Mike Ankrom said if members of the state party work together, it can achieve its ultimate goal.
"If we work hard, we can make West Virginia a Republican state," he said.
Delegate Carol Miller has represented District 15, which encompasses Cabell County, in the West Virginia House of Delegates since 2006. She also will be an at-large delegate at the convention. She is running for re-election against Democratic incumbents Jim Morgan and Kevin J. Craig as well as Democrat Carl Eastham and Republicans Jim Carden and Paula Stewart.
Though Miller said the trip to Minneapolis is going to be a time to attend seminars and focus on the party, the historical significance and importance of November's election was not lost on her, what with the first African-American running for president on the Democratic tickets and a woman as the vice presidential candidate on the Republican ticket.
"This is an opportunity to be part of a once-in-a-lifetime experience," Miller said. "This election cycle is historic. It's like nothing we've ever experienced before."
Marshall graduate student Kevin Noe was an alternate until Friday morning when a convention spot opened up because another delegate had to drop out due to an illness in his family. Noe said he's happy to see the nation moving in the right direction.
"(The choices) show where America's going," Noe said. "It shows we are not polarized by race or gender, but we're trying to find the best person for the job."
David Tyson, an attorney with Tyson and Tyson, will represent the state's 3rd Congressional District at the convention. Matt Pinson, publisher of the Huntington News Network, will serve as an at-large delegate.
