Optimizing the search for single top quark and $WH$ production at CDF

We report new searches for single top quarks and $WH$ production in a lepton+jets channel using 2 fb$^{-1}$ of data accumulated with the CDF detector at the Fermilab Tevatron. We present ways to increase the acceptance of candidate events using complementary trigger paths. The sensitivity of our search is further improved by employing a boosted decision tree together with a neural-network jet flavor separator to better classify signal and background events in the analysis.