THE Republican presidential campaign is circus-like - and so is West Virginia GOP activity. State Republican Chairman Mike Stuart is under fire from his own party for trying to topple the Mardi Gras Casino and Resort at Cross Lanes, wiping out 850 good-paying jobs. An email from Stuart's cellphone sneered at Republican legislators who rebuked him - but now he says he didn't send the email. What a zoo.

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Cyber Age: The Gazette's website receives more than 1 million visits per month, and the visitors read between 4 million and 5 million pages of content, in a typical month.

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Poetry fancier Bob Moore of Charleston writes "redneck haikus." Examples: "Bubba chugs a fifth / of Vern's Jack Daniels whisky / falls out of tree stand." "Tonight we hunger / grandma sent grocery money / to Joel Osteen." "Grinning, he displays / the 900 beer cans / filling pickup bed."

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If you feel nostalgia for Charleston's good old days, you can visit the mywvhome.com website. Former city firefighter, skydiver, radio host and gadfly Jerry Waters has spent almost a half-century collecting photos and items about Charleston's past. They're displayed in a splendid online array - everything from the old Rock Lake pool to relocated houses being floated on Kanawha River. It's a history trove.

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Correction: An editorial on birth control said a 2005 West Virginia law is exactly the same as President Obama's mandate that insurance companies, not employers, must bear the cost of providing contraceptives to women workers who want them. However, aides to Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., pointed out that there's a difference: Under the Mountain State law, women must request riders to their health insurance policies, and pay the cost themselves.