By Sandra Basu
Congressional Quarterly

Electoral votes: 5

Delegates: 18

Chairman: Gov. Cecil H. Underwood

Hotel: Wyndham Mt. Laurel (856) 234-7000

1996 Election:
Clinton – 52%
Dole – 37%
Perot – 11%

Winning elections is nearly always an uphill task for Republicans in mountainous West Virginia. Democrats outnumber Republicans by a ratio of more than 2 to 1 in the largely blue-collar, rural and poorer-than-average state.

Bill Clinton won the state by wide margins in the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections. All five members of West Virginia's congressional delegation are Democrats, as are more than three-quarters of the state legislators.

Nonetheless, there is confidence among the West Virginia delegates that Texas Gov. George W. Bush can win over the state as this year's Republican presidential nominee.

"I think Bush will carry West Virginia big time," said Bush state campaign Co-chairman William T. Bright, who went to his first national convention as a delegate in 1972.

Most of the delegation will be composed of members of the state party establishment and current and former elected officials. All of the delegates are supporting Bush.

The state's 18-member delegation will showcase several Republicans who have overcome the state's Democratic strength.

The most prominent of these is Gov. Cecil H. Underwood, who is chairing the West Virginia delegation.

The 77-year-old Underwood this year is seeking to extend one of the nation's most unusual political careers. He was first elected as governor in 1956, served one four-year term, then returned after a 36-year hiatus when he won the 1996 gubernatorial contest.

He will have to fight for re-election, though, as he faces a stiff challenge from nine-term 2nd District Democratic Rep. Bob Wise.

Former one-term Rep. Cleve Benedict, the 1996 delegation chairman, is a delegate. He won his House seat in 1980, the last year in which the West Virginia Republicans came out on top in any congressional election.

Delegate Tom Azinger, a state representative, is the father of Mike Azinger, the Republican challenger to Democratic Rep. Ted Strickland in southern Ohio's 6th Congressional District.

Also among the delegates are state GOP Chairman David Tyson, state Senate Minority Leader Vic Sprouse and former state Transportation Secretary Samuel G. Bonasso.

State Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, daughter of former Gov. Arch A. Moore Jr., will likely attend the convention, although she is not a delegate. She is the Republican nominee against Democratic former state Sen. Jim Humphreys in the heated race for the 2nd District House seat that Wise is leaving this year.

WEST VIRGINIA NOTABLES: Gov. Cecil H. Underwood, the delegation chairman; state Republican Party Chairman David Tyson; former Rep. Cleve Benedict; state Senate Minority Leader Vic Sprouse; Republican National Committeewoman Donna Boley.