Sources: McCain adds town hall stop at Kirby to visit

WILKES-BARRE – Republican presidential hopeful John McCain will make two stops in Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday.

The first will be a town hall meeting at 10 a.m. at the F.M. Kirby Center on Public Square. Doors will open at 8 a.m., according to party sources. The McCain campaign has not released details of the visit.

McCain, the GOP senator from Arizona, will then head to the Westmoreland Club on South Franklin Street for an invitation-only, $250-a-plate luncheon from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. About 250 will attend that fundraiser.

McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, will face Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presumptive nominee, in the November general election.

Several Republican Party members said they have been contacted about the visit and have been told to be at the Kirby Center on Wednesday morning.

Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, the Republican candidate for Congress in the 11th District, said he was invited to the luncheon, but will not attend because of a prior commitment – his own fundraiser.

Drew W. Taylor, the Kirby Center’s director of operations, said that about a month ago the McCain campaign asked the center to “hold” the date on its booking schedule. He said he has not heard anything since.

“We’re in a holding pattern,” Taylor said Thursday. “I would hope to learn by the end of this week (if McCain is appearing at the center). But so far they have not confirmed their usage.”

If he does he’ll add to the list of presidential campaigners to appear at the historic theater. In October 2004, President George Bush and his opponent Sen. John Kerry made stops.

“We’re hoping for the appearance,” Taylor said. “It would be an honor for Luzerne County, the City of Wilkes-Barre and, of course, the F.M. Kirby Center.”

The day before McCain’s visit to Wilkes-Barre, according to the candidate’s Web site, the senator is scheduled to appear in Rochester, N.H., and Baltimore. McCain spokesman Paul Lindsay said an official announcement about Wednesday’s visit here may come as early as today but “nothing’s been set in stone.”

Calls to other party officials, including Luzerne County Republican Party Chairman Terry Casey and Paul Catalano, his counterpart in Lackawanna County, were not returned Thursday.

“We’re hoping for the appearance. It would be an honor for Luzerne County, the City of Wilkes-Barre and, of course, the F.M. Kirby Center.”