Posted on 01/05/2008 9:17:20 PM PST by americanophile
Romney Wins Wyoming Caucuses By MEAD GRUVER – 7 hours ago
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — 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 seven delegates, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson got two and California Rep. Duncan Hunter won one, meaning no other candidate could beat Romney. Caucuses were still being held to decide all 12 delegates at stake.
The win was a boost for Romney, coming two days after his loss to Mike Huckabee in the Iowa caucuses and three days before the first-in-the-nation primary in New Hampshire. Those two states have attracted most of the political attention. Wyoming had scheduled its GOP county conventions earlier to attract candidates to the state but had only modest results.
Romney visited Wyoming in August and November and three of his five sons campaigned in the state. One son, Josh Romney, owns a ranch in southwest Wyoming.
"Number one, he campaigned here," delegate Leigh Vosler of Cheyenne said of Romney. "I think that helped while some other candidates ignored us. But also he's the right person for the job."
Hunter, 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. Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, 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.
"I think we're encouraged that the voters in Wyoming value that my dad had spent time here," Josh Romney said.
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.
Tom Sansonetti, the county convention organizer, maintained Saturday that moving the state's caucuses ahead was the right thing to do.
"The ultimate goal is not how many times we appear on Katie Couric," Sansonetti said. "The ultimate goal was to have attention paid to rank-and-file Republicans by national candidates."
In addition, he said more Wyoming Republicans have become involved in the process.
Wyoming Republicans also paid a price for jumping ahead. The Republican National Committee has slashed half of Wyoming's 28 national convention delegates. National party leaders similarly penalized Florida, Michigan, New Hampshire and South Carolina for moving up the dates of their nomination contests.
RNC rules require the punishment for states that hold their nominating contests earlier than Feb. 5. Iowa, which held caucuses on Thursday, will not be penalized because, technically, the caucuses are not binding on convention delegates. Nevada, which plans to hold its caucuses on Jan. 19, will not be penalized for the same reason.
Besides the 12 delegates chosen at Saturday's county conventions, two delegates to be chosen at a statewide convention in May will also be sent to the national convention in Minneapolis.
I would like to see Mitt as VP. He seems like he might be conservative; if he is, in fact conservative, he should be happy being the VP for Fred Thompson. If he isn't really a conservative, I don't think he'd be so happy there, and I think it should show.
A Thompson/Romney ticket could well work to the benefit of both people. Even if Romney has a plurality of delegates at the convention, there are going to be a lot of people strongly opposed to his taking the nomination. If enough of those people are willing to accept a Thompson/Romney ticket, then Romney--by accepting such a role--would put himself in the catbird seat in 2012.
I agree!! It kind of tells you how much support those three could count on from the conservative base in a general election.
“With Mitts and Hillary’s endorsement Freds got it made!”
No! Hillary’s enforsement would cost Fred votes! Let’s hope Hillary endorses John McCain!
All this talk and people keep forgetting the bulk of delegates on Super Tuesday are in Guilliani style states. He is pounding out ads there. All these plans and scenarios people are talking about are focused on a vague . . . just win in the south and everything will work out.
Well, it won’t. This is not a momentum year. This is a mathematical year. Romney is the GWB equivalent in funding and there is a big difference this year in that Guilliani has more money than any of GWB’s competitors in 2000. That makes it all mathematical in delegate count.
People are shooting at the wrong target. The target is Guilliani. He is very quietly going to grab the WTA state of NY and no one can stop that.
Which is why I repeatedly say on here....
Liberal Republicans are more dangerous than liberal democrats,,,
because liberal Republicans BLUR THE DISTINCTION between conservatism and liberalism,,,
MAKING LIBERALISM MUCH MORE ACCEPTABLE!!!
They have much in common, not the least of which is their membership in that exclusive club we commoners call the Senate, and their shared hatred of Bush.
I think it’s highly likely that Tony could be Barack’s pick for VP.
If so, it’s all over.
Tony?
What is that code?
Mitt had a very good day. I was very happy about his romp in Wyoming!
Giuliani looked like a complete fool on immigration--especially when he went on his 'schooling for illegals' rant (without discussing how that would encourage EVEN MORE illegal immigration) and his 'turning in only those who break the law' lunacy (without discussing the fact that they are ALL breaking the law).
Fred waived the BS flag on the latter.
Antonio Villaraigosa.
-—What is that code?-—
How many deligates each candidate received.
The only republicans who have more delegates than Duncan Hunter are Romney and Thompson. No delegates were actually selected in Iowa.
The New Hampshire GOP withdrew its sponsorship of this debate.
According to this article, there were no delegates selected in Iowa.
First G.O.P. Delegate Goes to Romney (Romney, Hunter Leading in WY)
New York Times ^ | January 5, 2008 | MEAD GRUVER
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/us/politics/05cnd-wyoming.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1199563235-58hBRHoYXSVDHcyr25G/Fw&oref=slogin
“Wyoming chose the first 12 delegates of 2008 at 12 separate county conventions. Iowa Republicans, who have 40 delegates, conducted a straw poll but elected no convention delegates Thursday.”
So, that means that Romney has the most delegates (8), Fred has 3 and Hunter has 1, going into New Hampshire. I see now that Hunter was wise not to campaign in Iowa, and where he did choose to campaign he drew blood. You get more bang for the buck with Hunter.
The fact that he’s being excluded from New Hampshire debates is probably a historical first. This is a conservative website and Hunter is a conservative candidate. The GOP is late in waking up to the fact that the media hates conservatives.
Didn’t his marriage just break up because he cheated on his wife?
His marriage broke up because he is following in his dad’s footsteps.
Rudy Giuliani lost to Ron Paul. And I think once the first candidate goes after him on it, they’ll all pile on.
Who has Giuliani ever beaten in an election? Ruth Messinger? The longer he’s on the campaign trail, the worse he does.
Republicans in the more moderate “Giuliani-style” states aren’t that much more socially liberal, there’s just fewer of them and perhaps they’re not as central as issues, certainly not central enough to accept Huckabee and his weaknesses on taxes, crime, immigration, and foreign policy, just because he’s an excellent standard-bearer on those social issues.
It’ll come down over the next few states between McCain, Thompson, and Romney, and whichever one is the strongest then is the one the vast middle of the party, the voters well between Giuliani and Huckabee’s positions, will shore up.
Yes, and very publicly so. He completely humiliated his wife and children in front of the public and showed no remorse. This is nothing, something he brushed off, and the media did not carry the story beyond his press conference.
Also, his girlfriend got fired from her job as a TV news reporter, for -— get this -— conflict of interest.
Tony sails on. Ain’t no big thing. This is a guy who has 5 children with 4 women, or something like that.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.