Romney Ahead in Wyoming

Associated Press ^ | January 5, 2008 | Staff

[Texas Mulerider]

Apparently the geniuses at NR couldn’t see this coming when they endorsed Romney.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Way to go Duncan Hunter!!!!

[elhombrelibre]

I believe it’s 11, but regardless of the exact amount, if those 11% go for one candidate it’s surely enough to push him to the top. Let’s see the margin of Romney’s win, if he gets this, and then figure out if it was a great help or not. Don’t get me wrong. I think he’s a strong candidate and it’s not a fluke of money and Mormonism as some here are saying.

[UCFRoadWarrior]

Thanks for the many answers regarding the LDS population in Wyoming. And, yes, I oxymoroned when I mentioned “large population” and “Wyoming”.

[Dante3]

I also think it is better to spend ones own money. I never understood why that was a negative unless these critics envy those who are rich.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Romney supports Hunter’s fence.

BTW, it’s not Hunter’s fence, it’s MY fence.

After all, it’s being built with MY money. It’s not like Hunter paid for it.

But Hunter is free to put the fence in his fliers. Romney didn’t say he built the fence, and since Romney isn’t in the federal government, he’s hardly taking credit for voting for it or signing the legislation either.

It’s good that a front-runner is standing strong on building the fence, because we need a president who will push the fence, otherwise it won’t get built.

[landerwy]

Didn’t you know we baptize antelope too! :^) (That was a joke)

[PGalt]

Thanks for posting. Good thread.

[buschbaby]

I think those who live around the Mormons are less likely to be troubled by Romney the way some of those who do not are.

I live amongst a large LDS population, near what LDS believe is the Garden of Eden. (My best friend in High School was LDS) They are great neighbors and productive members of our small community. Some old timers hold a grudge, but the majority couldn't care less. The biggest concern is the Church buying up so much land that land prices are inflated. Makes it hard on a small family farmers to increase his farm acreage.

Mitt being a Mormon/LDS has never concerned me in the least, it's his policies and unpredictability.

[Dan(9698)]

Do their delegates count or not?

They can count to twenty if they take their shoes and socks off.

[miner89]

But consider the question:

How many of the Mormans are Democrats?

Assuming that answer is very few, they could effectively be 20-25% of the Republicans.

[landerwy]

I think you will see the LDS influence in a few western states. It will be interesting.

It’s a great State, isn’t it? But let’s keep it our little secret!!

[Choose Ye This Day]

How much of Wyoming is Democrat? It’s a pretty Red state, is it not?

[EDINVA]

so, did Dick and Lynn Cheney caucus today ?

[elhombrelibre]

I think that’s legit and as it should be. I do think Huck has obliquely played to some anti-Mormon bigotry. Like you, I’m not LDS, but I’ve found those I’ve been around to be wonderful neighbors and good people. I disagree with their church’s doctrine. That has nothing to do with whether I could vote for Mitt. I’ll just say this. Today, he’s not my favorite, but if he wins the nomination, I’ll vote for him over Obama or Edwards - I’d say Hillary, but clearly she’s sinking and won’t win the Democrat Party nomination.

[Choose Ye This Day]

Question: Is I-80 closed today?

(Every time I try to drive through Wyoming, it’s closed at some point.)

[CharlesWayneCT]

Yes, Wyoming is a very conservative state.

That is why only three of our candidates bothered to go there — the three conservative ones.

Wyoming is the first real competition between the conservatives, to see which one appeals to a broad spectrum of conservative but not activist republicans.

That’s what makes it interesting.

BTW, it’s also a “winner-take-all” type of election, by “delegate”.

If I understand correctly, there are 23 delegates up for grabs, in 23 conventions. At each convention, there can be multiple people running to be the “delegate” for that convention. To some degree they compete by pledging their loyalty to a candidate, but there could be more than one delegate for a candidate. A delegate has to win 50+%, so as votes are held, delegate candidates drop out and throw their support to others.

So for example, in a case where no candidate gets 50%, the lowest-place candidate gets bumped, and they do it again. Which means that you get to see a little of who the “2nd choice” candidates are.

If we had 5 of our people competing, it would be interesting to see who gets the 2nd-place votes from everybody. Here, not so much, since there are only 3 candidates.

Since there are so few delegates, the delegates themselves aren’t really all that important, but it’s fun anyway. The popular straw poll vote was the first big thing, with Romney apparently winning handily. Now we will see how it worked within each convention, becuase it’s possible that the delegate outcome could be different just because of where the support is located.

A candidate with 45% support could easily come away with no delegates.

It will be interesting to see if any reports come out about details.

[fkabuckeyesrule]

Well hey Wyoming put Bush over the top in 2000. LOL!

[CharlesWayneCT]

I talked to one of my LDS friends, and he started by telling me that Wyoming and Utah didn’t get along at all — but then he laughed and said he was talking about a football rivalry :-)

[elhombrelibre]

It’s a very red state. Only Utah is redder. And that’s the point of LDS influence. Few of them are Democrats, except for Harry Reid it seems.