With multiple players interested in developing cracker plants in the Marcellus Shale basin (including multinational companies like Brazil-based Braskem), this was never a one-strike-and-you're-out competition.

Privately, Tomblin administration officials had said that of the major players, Shell was probably the long shot at locating in West Virginia. Braskem supposedly is the more interested corporate player.

Delegate Randy Swartzmiller, D-Hancock, may have said it best in response to the Republican outcry: If West Virginia's business climate really was so out of whack, its tax structure so uncompetitive, and its legal climate so litigious, Shell wouldn't have even considered West Virginia, let alone had the Hancock site as one of its finalists.

"You can believe what you want to believe," Swartzmiller said. "The fact is, Pennsylvania had a little bit more property available for future expansion."

Ironically, the Pennsylvania site was available because the location, a zinc plant, is being vacated as the company is relocating operations to North Carolina.

West Virginia's proposed site was landlocked because the adjacent property is "very much occupied" by a significant employer and revenue-producer for the state, Mountaineer Racetrack and Casino.

While Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Maloney put out releases bemoaning how West Virginia had "lost" thousands of jobs and millions in investment, Swartzmiller didn't sound like a loser.

At the very least, he said, the plant will provide job opportunities to Northern Panhandle residents who will have a very short commute to Monaca, Pa.

"There's going to be a lot of people in West Virginia from the Northern Panhandle that are going to have jobs ... when that plant opens," he said.

Likewise, the real prize with a cracker plant is not the plant itself, but the plastics and polymer chemical plants that locate in the vicinity of the cracker. Swartzmiller noted that the Northern Panhandle, including the Hancock County site, will be very much in play for those investments.

***

It seems doubtful that the plant location issue will have "legs" for the Republicans through the general election.

With site evaluation and plant design expected to take a couple of years, there won't be any groundbreakings or ribbon cuttings in Pennsylvania to keep the issue in the forefront for voters this year.

In the meantime, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin will have any number of pro-business campaign photo-ops, including the opening of the Macy's distribution center in Berkeley County and the presumed re-opening of the Century Aluminum plant in Jackson County, along with any other announcements that follow.

***

It seems that every session, a bill passes that gets little attention but ultimately has widespread ramifications. This year, it could be legislation to require the Bureau of Senior Services to maintain a registry of in-home care providers (HB4062).

Currently, finding a good caregiver is a hit-or-miss proposition, with horror stories ranging from providers not showing up for work, leaving seniors with no one to prepare meals or provide basic care, to incidents of providers stealing from their clients (including painkillers and other prescription drugs).

I know from personal experience that my mom found her in-home care provider by sheer happenstance. Some 15 years ago, my mom was in the hospital for hip surgery and was so impressed with her roommate's caregiver that she got the woman's name and number in the event she ever needed in-home care.

As circumstances worked out, for the past few years Mom has benefited from the services and friendship of that caregiver who, beginning Monday will be assisting with mom's hospice care.

***

Speaking of, longtime Senate Clerk Darrell Holmes has been suffering from congestive heart failure, and missed the final days of the 2012 session.

***

Finally, news that several newspapers, including the Daily Mail, had censored last week's Doonesbury comic strip brought back a wave of nostalgia to an era when Doonesbury was still controversial and edgy and was, along with National Lampoon, required reading for adolescents trying to grasp the concept of satire.

Last week's controversy also caused me to hearken back on why Doonesbury is carried in the Daily Mail, when the Gazette, with its liberal-leaning editorial page, would seem the more likely outlet.

Back in the day, when Doonesbury was expanding its syndication from primarily running in great college newspapers like The Daily Athenaeum, the Gazette had first dibs in this market.

As Don Marsh used to tell us, in one of his greatest failings as Gazette editor, he passed on Doonesbury, saying he didn't think it was very funny. At the time, when three-panel comic strips were all set-up, set-up, punch line, the idea of political commentary on the funny pages was an alien concept, with the possible exception of Pogo.

Likewise, Marsh was one of those rare folks who didn't think "Raising Arizona" was funny, which led to numerous impromptu newsroom debates back when the movie first became a hit.