Romney Wins Wyoming Caucuses
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James Joyner | Saturday, January 5, 2008 |
What if they held a caucus and nobody came? Mitt Romney would win!
Mitt Romney captured his first win of the Republican presidential race, gaining most of Wyoming’s delegates at stake in GOP caucuses on Saturday.
The former Massachusetts governor won six of the first eight delegates to be selected. Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson and California Rep. Duncan Hunter won one apiece, meaning no other candidate could beat Romney. Caucuses were still being held to decide all 12 delegates at stake.
Coming two days after the Iowa caucuses and three days before the New Hampshire primary, the early date of the Wyoming GOP county conventions was intended to draw candidates’ attention to the state but had only modest results. Republican hopefuls Romney, Hunter, Fred Thompson and Ron Paul all stopped by the state—visits they probably wouldn’t have made except for this year’s early conventions—and candidates have sent Wyoming’s GOP voters a flood of campaign mail.
Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who won the Iowa caucus on Thursday, did not visit Wyoming and drew little support. Arizona Sen. John McCain and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani also did not visit and received little support.
The traditional leadoff nomination contests in Iowa and New Hampshire have dominated the attention of both candidates and the national media in recent months, and no candidates had visited Wyoming in the four weeks leading up to the caucuses. Hunter was the last to visit the state on Dec. 4.
So much for Huckmentum — now we’ve got Huntermania!
UPDATE: When the voting was completed, “Mr. Romney won eight delegates, former Senator Fred D. Thompson of Tennessee won three, and Representative Duncan Hunter of California won one,” the NYT reports.
- Republicans to Punish Early Primary States
- McCain and Clinton Get Huge New Hampshire Bounce
- ABC Cuts Also-Rans from Debates
- The New Hampshire Primaries: It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over
- On to Michigan - McCain vs. Romney
- Iowa Shake-Up: Huckabee and Obama Take Lead
- Fred Thompson Quitting - Or Surging?
- Ron Paul Excluded from Fox Debate
- Duncan Hunter Quitting Race? UPDATE: Not Yet!
- South Carolina and Nevada Post-Mortem
Parsing the Breitbart quote more carefully, it appears that its vote report was based only on early and incomplete results.
So Thompson now has more delegates than Rudy.
Comments are Closed
Contra the Breitbart quote you've linked, which says Thompson got one delegate, the Associated Press reports:
Adam Clymer of the NYT concurs in listing Thompson as having won three delegates, and points out that "By violating the dates allowed by the national party, Wyoming Republicans forfeited half of the state’s normal 28 delegates."