mike.sluss@roanoke.com (804) 697-1585

For months, a grass-roots organization devoted to promoting Gov. Mark Warner as a presidential candidate existed only on the Internet.

Today, Salem Web designer Eddie Ratliff and some like-minded allies will join forces to promote their cause in person at a West Virginia Democratic Party dinner, where Warner will be the keynote speaker.

"This is going to be our first on-the-ground operation," Ratliff said.

Ratliff started the DraftMarkWarner.com Web site immediately after the 2004 election, deciding that Warner was capable of breaking the Republican Party's stranglehold on Southern electoral votes and giving Democrats a legitimate chance to capture the White House.

The site features links to news articles and opinion pieces about the governor, and links to discussion groups and an online petition for would-be Warner supporters.

Ratliff has put his Web skills to work for other grass-roots causes and for the 2004 Virginia primary campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark. Ratliff said he devotes 20 to 25 hours a week to DraftMarkWarner.com. The site has produced a "committed volunteer base" of about 200 people and spawned online discussion groups in 23 states, he said.

Ratliff said volunteers from Georgia, Maryland and West Virginia will join him today to meet West Virginia Democrats and encourage them to support a Warner presidential bid.

The group will be wearing "Warner for President" T-shirts and buttons and handing out literature about the governor, Ratliff said.

Neither Warner nor his political action committee has any association with the Web site or the grass-roots organization, Ratliff said. And Warner, who still has four and a half months remaining in his gubernatorial term, has repeatedly refused to discuss his political future. The governor said Thursday that he finds the attention "flattering," but insisted he remains focused on his current job.

Warner raised his national profile in the past year by serving as chairman of the National Governors Association and stepping up his schedule of out-of-state speaking engagements. Warner has said he wants to be part of an effort to move the national Democratic Party closer to the political center, but he has not talked publicly about running for national office. He also has not ruled out making another run for governor in 2009.

Ratliff said his organization intends to be "low-key and respectful," recognizing that Warner has not made any decisions about his political future. But Ratliff wants to talk "one-on-one" with Democrats who hear Warner and persuade them to spread the word about Virginia's governor. Ratliff said the party must nominate a candidate with centrist credentials to win in 2008.