More than 1,175 Republicans have applied to be delegates to the State Republican Presidential Convention and that number could go higher.

The application deadline was last week, and the West Virginia GOP was still working to finalize the total number of delegates officially as of Monday morning.

"This is a truly phenomenal number. We're just awed by it," says Bob Fish, State Republican Party Presidential Convention CEO. He was a guest on Monday's MetroNews Talkline.

Fish says four Republican Presidential candidates seem to have the most support from the delegates. They are Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee.

"The people who are the top four candidates are also the people who are working hardest in West Virginia, working to find West Virginians who agree with them and who would sign on to be their delegates," says Fish.

However, Fish says 45 percent of the delegates who have applied to be part of the West Virginia Republican Convention have not officially committed to a candidate. It's works out to more than 500 of the total number of applications.

West Virginia's Republicans will choose a Presidential Candidate on Feb. 5, a day where primary elections are scheduled in more than 20 other states. Fish says the national spotlight will be on West Virginia.

"The reason I think West Virginia will matter is that we're going to be first that day," he says. "We'll have candidates speaking to delegates between 9:30 and 11:30 in the morning."

The first round of voting could be finished by about 12:30 that day.

"It really allows people from West Virginia about who we want to be our Presidential Candidate," Fish says.

For more information, you can visit www.wvgopconvention.com.