Gop

You wonder how Ken Starr and the House managers felt this week. Seeing the man they so desperately tried to drive from office swagger onstage at the Democratic National Convention sporting a 70 percent approval rating, grinning like the cat that ate the canary and giving a speech that some feared “set the bar too high” for President Obama the following night. The Republican convention had no such superstar it could trot out on stage as the country swooned - although it would have had Reagan still been around.

A recent Republican campaign piece in a congressional race focuses on a connection between Democrat John Delaney and a formerly illegal landfill. National Waste Services operated the Battle Creek Landfill in Page County, Va., until 2004, when the landfill was shut down after taking in more trash than the state allowed. Republicans are linking Delaney - who is challenging Republican incumbent Roscoe G. Bartlett in the 6th District - and National Waste Services. The front of a Maryland Republican Party mailing says: “John Delaney financed a landfill that regulators shut down for damaging the environment.

When seemingly everyone in Washington County had their trousers in a wad two years ago over a dirty campaign trick that perhaps cost Kristin Aleshire his seat as a County Commissioner, Aleshire himself remained calm. Today it is Aleshire who is agitated, long past the point that everyone else in the county has moved on. This lends his mission a quixotic aspect that seems a bit peevish given the amount of time elapsed since the original infraction. But Aleshire seldom does anything without careful thought, so a case can be made that his recent actions serve both a strategic and tactical function that goes beyond one election cycle.

Jeffrey Coney has been nominated to run as a Republican candidate for Hagerstown City Council in November's general election, a Washington County Board of Elections official confirmed Thursday. Coney, 51, of 201 Jackson Ave., was nominated by the Washington County Republican Central Committee on Wednesday to fill the spot vacated by Councilman Forrest W. Easton, who withdrew from the race. Easton, who was elected to the five-member council in 2009, said earlier this month that he was dropping out of the race due to increased work obligations and a lessened desire to live in the city.

Jane Tabb, a former Jefferson County Commissioner, held off political novice Reese Claybaugh in Tuesday's Republican primary with a comfortable margin of 1,401 votes over the 1,027 that Clabaugh got in his bid to win the nomination, according to unofficial returns. Tabb, who served on the commission from 2001-06, heads into a Nov. 6 rematch with incumbent Democratic Commissioner Frances Morgan. Morgan had no Democratic primary opponent. Morgan won her six-year term in 2006 by beating Tabb.

James R. “Jim” Barnhart and Travis W. Mong are vying to be one of the Republican Party's nominees in the race for Berkeley County Council in next week's primary election,. Barnhart, 62, of Featherbed Road, Martinsburg said he is well aware of the county's problems after a 39-year career with the Berkeley County Health Department. Barnhart retired in February. Mong of Cutlip Drive, Martinsburg, did not return three messages requesting comment on his candidacy. The winner in the Tuscarora District race between Barnhart and Mong will advance to the November general election where he will vie for one of two County Council seats on the ballot.  The winners in the November general election are expected to serve six-year terms.

Washington County Republicans Wednesday night got a possible sneak preview of 2014, as David R. Craig - a possible gubernatorial candidate - blasted the Democratic establishment in Annapolis. Craig was the keynote speaker at the Washington County Republican Central Committee's annual Lincoln-Reagan Dinner. Nearing his term limit as Harford County executive, Craig is campaigning for a 2014 office, but hasn't specified which one. However, two Republicans who spoke before and after Craig on Wednesday - state committee Chairman Alex X. Mooney and county committee Chairman Ray Givens - said what is widely suspected, that Craig has his eye on the governor's mansion.

Gateway Republican Women is hosting a meet and greet session with political candidates from the upcoming West Virginia primary. The event will be Monday, April 30, at 7 p.m. at Ryan's Restaurant in Martinsburg. The following Republican candidates for Berkeley County offices have been invited: sheriff, assessor, Berkeley County Council and nonpartisan Berkeley County Board of Education. The meeting is open to the public.

The people working behind the scenes to bring presidential candidate Mitt Romney to Franklin County, Pa., started their efforts long before the crowd of 600 started filing in at 5 p.m. Sunday. Starting at 7:30 a.m., Green Grove Gardens' proprietor, Keith McCleaf, continued to prepare the venue and oversaw his staff members serving the largest crowd ever gathered at the special-events center off Pa. 16. “It's not been bad at all (to organize). The Franklin County Republican Party has been really easy to work with,” he said, saying Secret Service and campaign staff were also cooperative.

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney is scheduled to speak to a crowd of hundreds in Antrim Township, Pa., just two days before the state's primary election. Romney, who is seeking the GOP nomination to the presidency, will serve as the keynote speaker for the Franklin County Republican Committee's annual Lincoln Day Dinner scheduled for Sunday, April 22. "It's a wonderful opportunity for Franklin County to host a presidential candidate of this magnitude. I commend our party chariman for working to make this happen," said state Sen. Richard Alloway, R-Franklin/Adams/York.