Published: July 22, 2008 12:22 am      

City councilwoman named county chair of McCain campaign

Four years ago, Republican George W. Bush shocked local political observers by winning the presidential race in heavily Democratic Cambria County.

This year, a Johnstown city councilwoman has been tapped to try to engineer a repeat performance for the GOP.

Ann Wilson will serve as Cambria County chair of the John McCain campaign. And she’s sure to be busy, since Pennsylvania is viewed as a key battleground state in McCain’s race against Democrat Barack Obama.

Wilson’s mission is to “act as a representative for the McCain campaign,” she said.

“I’ll make sure I get John McCain’s message to the people of Cambria County.”

Wilson was elected to City Council in 2005 and is the only Republican on that nine-member board. Last year, she became the Cambria County Republican Committee’s executive director.

She also played a role in the local presidential race in 2004: Wilson was the county communications coordinator for the Bush campaign and chaired the Cambria County Young Professionals for Bush.

Prior to Bush’s win here in 2004, the last Republican presidential candidate to gain a majority of the county’s votes in a general election was Richard Nixon in 1972.

Wilson said McCain’s socially conservative political positions and his credentials – the Arizona senator is a Vietnam veteran and former prisoner of war – will appeal to Cambria County voters regardless of their political affiliations.

“I believe John McCain is going to transcend party lines,” she said. “He’s a veteran, he’s pro-life and he’s a patriot.”

Johnstown businessman Rob Gleason, who chairs the Cambria County and state Republican committees, endorsed McCain on Feb. 1.

Both he and Wilson have said they hope to host McCain at a campaign event in the Johnstown area this year.

In 2004, both Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney made campaign stops in Johnstown.

Democratic presidential contender John Kerry did not visit that year. But his running mate, John Edwards, made an appearance at Cambria County War Memorial Arena.

Meanwhile, state Rep. Bob Bastian, R-Somerset, is among 23 people chosen statewide to bolster support among veterans for McCain.

Bastian also was selected to an eight-member leadership committee of the Pennsylvania Veterans for John McCain Leadership Team.

Other members of the team from the area are Rodney Rudduck and Charles Stevenson, both of Indiana.