www.herald-dispatch.com/2004/September/08/LNtop1.htm
BRYAN CHAMBERS - The Herald-Dispatch HUNTINGTON -- President George W Bush's campaign rally here Friday will be held at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena, and tickets are available at local Republican headquarters. Bush's visit continues the unprecedented attention West Virginia is receiving from both presidential candidates as they battle for states that could go either way. Bush stumped in Parkersburg on Sunday, and Democratic nominee, US Sen.
Friday's visit will be Bush's second visit to Huntington this year, but the first appearance was to a smaller, invitation-only audience at Marshall University. The arena rally offers an opportunity for a much larger crowd to see the president. Officials would not comment on the size of the crowd expected Friday, but Sunday, Bush spoke before about 20,000 people in Parkersburg. The arena's capacity is 8,000 to 9,000 depending on the event. The rally will begin at 10:35 am Friday at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena. After the rally, Bush will board his campaign bus and travel to Portsmouth, Ohio, where he plans an "Ask President Bush event," during which the public can submit questions to him. Then the bus will take him to Chillicothe, Ohio, where there will be another rally like the one in Huntington. The campaign office normally is open from 9 am to 9 pm Mondays through Fridays and 10 am to 5 pm Saturdays, but will open at 8 am through the end of this week. The staff may be contacted by calling (304) 781-2504 or (304) 781-2505. Bush has shown strength in recent national polls, including a CNN-USA Today-Gallop poll released Monday that had Bush leading with 52 percent of likely votes, followed by Kerry at 45 percent and Nader at 1 percent. But the battle for West Virginia's five electoral votes, which Bush won in 2000, remains tight. Law enforcement officials would not comment on plans for the visit or security. Hank Dial, public information officer for the Huntington Police Department, said several law enforcement personnel met Monday at HPD headquarters to go over security plans, but declined to comment any further. Secret Service officials in charge of security for the visit could not be reached for comment. Local Republicans say they are not concerned that recent violence and vandalism at GOP headquarters will spill over to the presidential visit. Someone egged the Republican Headquarters in the 1400 block of 4th Avenue early Monday, just four days after someone fired a bullet into the building. John Morris, chairman of the Republican Party in Cabell County, said campaign volunteers found the headquarters covered with egg splatter as they came to work Monday morning. With the exception of a few broken egg shells on a window seal, the mess had been cleaned up by Tuesday morning. "The whole building was covered with eggs," Morris said Tuesday while greeting people looking for tickets to Bush's visit to Huntington. Thursday night, someone fired a bullet into the headquarters as nearly 25 people gathered to watch televised coverage of the Republican National Convention. President Bush had been speaking for about two minutes when people inside the headquarters heard a pop and shattering glass. Aside from a glass shard that nicked a Huntington woman's neck, no injuries were reported. Though an HPD incident report listed a pellet gun as a possible source, investigators said initial evidence suggested the hole in the glass was too large to have come from a pellet gun. The bullet hole, which remained Tuesday, is located a little more than 6 feet high and to the right of the main entrance on 4th Avenue. It is surrounded by several "Bush/Cheney 04" political signs, as well as signs for local candidates. The shooting is still under investigation, and no arrests have been made, said Capt. Though no one reported the egging to police, Morris said he is firmly convinced that it and the shooting are politically motivated. "I wanted to think differently right after the shooting, but with this egging, I think it's all politically motivated," Morris said. "It's just sad that things are getting to this (level)."
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