Just three weeks before the election, McSlarrow scheduled a speech to the National Coal Council, a quasi-governmental group that advises the U.S. Department of Energy.

But the head of the National Coal Council says that either presidential candidate would be just fine.

"If you look at the details, there's really very little difference between the candidates," said Robert A. Beck, executive vice president and top staff person for the coal council.

"From our standpoint, we're pretty comfortable with both of them," said Beck, a former utility executive and industry lobbyist from Cincinnati. "They both seem to be very positive toward coal."

Beck runs the coal council, which was chartered in 1984 to advise DOE about coal-related issues.

The group is made up almost exclusively of industry officials. Bill Raney, president of the West Virginia Coal Association, is a member. So are the CEOs of Arch Coal Inc. and CONSOL Energy Inc.

Also listed as a member is Dick Kimbler, a retired United Mine Workers official who campaigned for George W. Bush in 2000.

Beck said an official from The Nature Conservancy is a member, but that the council makes no pretense of being diverse.

"We're proponents of coal, and some of those environmentalists are not what you would call proponents of coal," he said during an interview Tuesday evening.

Every year, the coal council operates on about $500,000 in contributions from its industry members, according to Beck. The council receives no government funding, he said.

The council has meetings, writes reports, and makes policy recommendations to the DOE.

Before Wednesday's morning meeting at a downtown Charleston hotel, Beck could recall only one other meeting in Charleston. That was in April 2002 at The Greenbrier, he said.

Beck said that Wednesday's meeting was scheduled several months ago, and that he couldn't control whether a Bush appointee turned it into a political event.

"They'll probably be touting whatever message they want to tout, but our meeting is a business meeting," he said.

"I don't know that we're non-political, but we're apolitical."

In his speech, McSlarrow -- a longtime aide to various Republicans, including Dan Quayle, Bob Dole and Trent Lott -- indeed touted the Bush administration's record on coal.

"I'm an optimist about coal's future," he said. "I know there are challenges, but I think President Bush has shown there are ways to surmount those."

McSlarrow became more partisan during a question-and-answer session, when he was asked to discuss Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's coal proposals.

"Senator Kerry and his friends have supported legislation and litigation to kill coal," he said. "The contrast is pretty stark to me, but then again, I'm biased."

To paint Kerry as an anti-coal candidate, the Bush campaign has pointed to Kerry's previous support for limits on greenhouse gas emissions and his vote against overturning a federal court ruling to limit mountaintop removal.

During his campaign in West Virginia, Kerry has backed off his stance on greenhouse gases and has refused to spell out what his policies would be on regulation of mountaintop removal and other strip mining.

But Kerry has also made an issue of Bush's record on coal, especially his appointment of a coal industry executive -- rather than a miners' advocate -- to run the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Kerry has also promised to pump $10 billion over 10 years into the federal program that researches ways to burn coal more cleanly. That's five times the amount that Bush promised to spend during his 2000 campaign.

"Senator Kerry's position seems to be very positive about clean coal and the coal industry," Beck said. "He's very positive about the whole business of coal and using coal for our energy security."