Romney wins Wyoming Republican caucuses

[oberliner]

Source: Associated Press

CASPER, Wyoming: Mitt Romney's attention to Wyoming paid off Saturday as he won most of the 12 presidential delegates at stake in the state's Republican county conventions.

The former Massachusetts governor won six of the first eight to be selected Saturday. Fred Thompson, the former Tennessee senator and actor, and California Rep. Duncan Hunter, who both also visited Wyoming, won one apiece, meaning no other candidate could beat Romney. Caucuses were still meeting.

Coming two days after the Iowa caucuses and three days before the New Hampshire primary, the early date of the Wyoming Republican county conventions was intended to draw candidates' attention to the state but had only modest results.

Republican hopefuls Romney, Hunter, Thompson and Texas Rep. Ron Paul all stopped by the state — visits they probably would not have made except for this year's early conventions — and candidates have sent Wyoming's Republican voters a flood of campaign mail.



Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/01/05/america/NA-POL-US-Wyoming-Caucus.php

[Xipe Totec]

1. And the crowds yawn.

:boring:

[mcscajun]

3. ...

[Highway61]

7. Bingo n/t

[MADem]

2. What? He paid off five assholes in a barn?

I'm of the opinion that WY should only have ONE US Senator--the other one should be given to DC. They'd STILL be overrepresented in DC, but it would be a start!

[Critters2]

12. Yeah, rural people shouldn't have rights--or Senators. nt

[DBoon]

16. rural people deserve the same representation as the rest of us

California population - 37.7 million. Number of senators - 2
Wyoming population - 515,000. Number of senators - 2

So one vote in Wyoming counts the same as 73 votes in California.

Now who is being underrepresented in the US Senate?

[Critters2]

17. Senators represent states, not individuals.

Each state gets two Senators. Wyoming is a state, California is a state. Thus, they each get two Senators. No one is being underrepresented. Population is not the standard in the Senate.

The House is representative by population. California has a much larger House delegation.

You know, you can order a copy of the Constitution over at Amazon.

[Bill McBlueState]

28. just because it's in the Constitution doesn't mean it's fair...

The Constitution gives representation to inanimate tracts of land by giving each state the same power in the Senate. It worked well as a late eighteenth-century compromise, but that doesn't make it fair.

[Critters2]

29. It's this way precisely because it is fair.

Citizens of small states would have NO representation if both houses were representative of population. No one would give a rat's ass about people in Wyoming or Iowa (as you obviously don't now), if only large states had strong representation. One house represents all states equally, one house allows large states to ignore the needs of small states. I'd say that's more than fair.

Critters
who is sickened by whiny Californians

[MADem]

20. Oh bullshit.

This isn't about "rural people." Hell, the bulk of people in WY aren't rural--they're in the cities. http://www.city-data.com/city/Wyoming.html Wyoming has fewer people in the whole state than the city of Los Angeles has, and California only has two Senators.

Let's flip your argument--heavily populated states shouldn't have the same rights--er, Senate per capita REPRESENTATION--as empty, rural states with few inhabitants.

If the Magic Number of 100 is so important, that's one way to handle it, is all I'm saying. I realize the HOUSE is supposed to mitigate that shit, but it doesn't. And DC has NO substantive representation at all. All they have is Hardworking Eleanor, who can't even vote, only persuade. And that's just not right.

[customerserviceguy]

21. That point about the Constitution is valid

When a state gets admitted to the Union, in the process of admitting that new state, the existing ones get their say as to whether or not the Senate will get an additional two members. I suppose at one point in time, predominantly underpopulated states used this tactic to get more representation for primarily Western or Midwestern interests, but in modern times, it has not worked that way. There were 46 years, 10 months, and 20 days between the admittance of New Mexico (nearly a century ago) and Alaska, and we passed that point (since Hawaii was admitted) back on July 11, 2006.

And there are no new states on the horizon. Perhaps there is an injustice being done to D.C., but screwing over Wyoming is not going to produce fairness. The D. C. has three electoral votes, the same as Wyoming, why not give them three voting representatives in the House of Representatives? Or two voting representatives and one Senator? Or, let the residents of that area vote with Maryland on Senatorial elections, since the part of D. C. that was in Virginia has since reverted to that state, and its residents vote for Senator there.

The "magic number" of 100 has only existed since Alaska and Hawaii sent Senators, we had a lesser number before that time. There's all kinds of ways to fix this without mucking up the intent of the framers of the Constitution.

[MADem]

23. Good points, all of them. NT

[rch35]

4. haha, i didnt even know wyoming was caucusing this early until Mitts win showed up on the news n/t

[msongs]

5. do ya suppose he would win in...Utah? nt

[onehandle]

6. There are fewer people living in Wyoming than in the District of Columbia.

Either DC needs to be made a state or Wyoming needs to be demoted.

Just saying...

[Critters2]

13. Why is it an either/or? And how many people do you need in one place

before they deserve representation?

[customerserviceguy]

22. There's no magic number

of people to produce statehood, the entire process is under the control and jurisdiction of the existing Congress, with all it's political undertones. Utah was denied statehood for a very long time because of the polygamy issue. I know there is not universal opinion in Puerto Rico that it should become a state, but if there were, such an event would probably have to wait until Latinos become a more potent political force in national politics.

[beltanefauve]

8. Rudy who?

I haven't, from day one, believed a single national poll number making Giuliani the front-runner for the Repugs and Hillary the front-runner for the Dems. I think we're going to be seeing the proof of MSN manipulation over and over across the country.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

11. Yes, MSN are manipulators.

And their chat program sucks, too.

[beltanefauve]

26. Chat program?

Sorry, I don't follow what you're saying.

[panzerfaust]

9. I thought it was still a territory

Still. A feather in his cap.

[Critters2]

14. I'd give Texas its independence back, if I had a say.

Just sayin'.

[Ian David]

19. I'd give Texas back to Mexico. n/t

[struggle4progress]

27. We could decide to honor the 1851 Ft. Laramie treaty

[fascisthunter]

10. Lol (nt)

[existentialist]

15. Wyoming caucuses, final delegate count

The final delegate count from the Wyoming caucuses is:

Romney 8
Thompson 3
Hunter 1


Wyoming was penalized half of its delegates for caucusing early. Two additional delegates will be chosen at the state convention in May.

http://content.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/results.aspx?sp=wy&oi=p&rti=e

Wyoming Republicans sacrificed half of their few delegates to try to bring some candidates and attention to their state (with minimal success, and to bring mainstream Republicans into the selection process--(that's close to a quote from some Wyoming Republican).


Obviously this has not received much coverage and is not all that significant, but as far as it goes I think this is good. It does not help McCain--although it won't hurt him much either--and Romney and Thompson are falling fast, and Hunter never has been perceived as much of a threat to become President.

If anything this shows further evidence that the Republicans are in disarray, and that's good.

[customerserviceguy]

24. It's good for Ghouliani

He wants things to be divided among his opponents before Super Tuesday, he feels he can win a large number of delegates from the bigger states and establish momentum that way.

A more significant development is that with various states picking among several candidates (at least on the Republican side, so far) the early states will no longer have the power to be kingmakers like they were in the past. What if Super Tuesday is also a muddle for the Republicans, and nobody has a clear momentum the next day? Then people in the states which choose later become more politically powerful.

It may or may not work out that way on our side, it depends on whether Edwards or Hillary can beat Obama in New Hampshire.

[here_is_to_hope]

25. Wyoming has a large Mormon population.

And its funny, most of those Mormons call the Church in Salt Lake, 'Corporate'.
I used to deliver wheat to a small bakery outside of Powell, it was run by one man and 19 wives, with the kids doing a lot of the baking...:shrug:
They did build with strawbale though and were almost off the grid.

[Ian David]

18. The other day there were reports Duncan Hunter dropped-out. Were they premature? n/t