ANNAPOLIS -- Jim Pelura's future as chair of the Maryland Republican Party may still be in jeopardy after at this weekend's state GOP Fall 2008 Convention, but Pelura was not met with any public opposition and the conversation focused on the party's future as a whole.

Speculation continued on Friday that state Sens. Alex Mooney and Andy Harris were looking to oust Pelura, after Harris lost a hard-fought race for the 1st Congressional District seat against Democrat Frank Kratovil by only a few thousand votes. The district was considered a Republican stronghold by most.

Behind the scenes, numerous operatives and high-ranking party officials spoke of the rumors as fact, but most Republicans down played the rumors in public, Mooney and Harris included.

"What I do want ... a discussion to occur at this convention on how we go about ... how the Republican Party will address the 2010 election," Harris told PolitickerMD.com.

In a phone interview with PolitickerMD.com on Friday, Mooney didn't say he was interested in ousting Pelura, but said there was a grass roots movement of people who felt the party could have done more to help out with the 1st District race.

"Andy Harris and his crew are upset and Alex Mooney and his crew are upset," Chris Cavey, the party's first vice-chair, told PolitickerMD.com in a Friday phone interview.

A separate rumor on Friday suggested a closed-door executive committee meeting would feature Senate Minority Leader Allan Kittleman (R-West Friendship) and House Minority Leader Tony O'Donnell (R-Calvert County) speaking about Pelura's future. Both, however, said their speeches were not about Pelura.

"I think that Chairman Pelura has been given the party reigns at a very challenging time," O'Donnell told PolitickerMD.com and that the discussion focused on "moving the party forward" and "working together."

"We talked about working there together and making sure we are united in 2010," Kittleman told PolitickerMD.com.

The effort to oust Pelura mid-cycle would be difficult. The state party would need to be given 30 days notice and two-thirds of all the members of the state's central committees would have to vote in favor of it.

"There's a process," Pelura told PolitickerMD.com, adding he wasn't concerned about the rumors.  "If it's a valid concern, then first off, I would know about it."

The state GOP Fall 2008 Convention was held Friday evening through Saturday afternoon at the Doubletree Hotel in Annapolis.