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And Now On to ... Wyoming?
TIme
Saturday January 5, 2007
Now that Iowa is done with its caucuses, get ready for the
first primary of the season. No, not New Hampshire. Wyoming.
On Saturday, Jan. 5, Republicans in Dick Cheney's home state
will hold their own renegade primary. It is a huge risk for the
state G.O.P. They moved up the primary date without the blessing
of Republican National Committee and will lose half their convention
delegates for violating the rules. But there may be a big payoff:
Wyoming could further confirm front-runner status for Mike Huckabee
and give him momentum into the Jan. 8 primary in New Hampshire
- or provide Mitt Romney with his first, if minor, stop of what
might be a Huckabee steamroller.
Wyoming's Republican leaders, emboldened by a tradition of stubborn
independence and weary of obscurity, are pressing ahead in spite
of the national party's objections. After the state central committee
voted in August to go early, Tom Sansonetti, organizer of the
county-level conventions, said it was worth it: "There was
a solid consensus by everybody that the price of playing in the
nomination process was worth the loss of the delegates."
Abiding by Republican National Committee rules and holding the
county conventions later, Sansonetti said, would "doom the
Wyoming Republican Party to being a non-player, with no visits,
no phone calls, no direct mail, by the national candidates."
(Article continues below)
So far, however, the move has had rather tepid results. Just
three candidates showed up for Wyoming's G.O.P. presidential forums
in September: Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback (who has since dropped
out), California Rep. Duncan Hunter and Fred Thompson. Later visits
to the state have been made by Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Mike
Huckabee. Rudy Giuliani and John McCain have been no-shows.
Romney's organization has been the most visible, busily mobilizing
campaign supporters among Wyoming's Mormons, who make up about
10% of the state's population. Precinct delegates headed for the
Jan. 5 nominating conventions have also received mailings from
Paul and Thompson.
The problem, however, is that Wyoming may declare for no clear
favorite of its own on Jan. 5. Jan Larimer, Wyoming's national-level
state committeewoman, who will lose her own 2008 convention seat
under the RNC penalty, says, "It would be nice if we had
a winner. I have no sense of any favorite so far. I think we're
going to have a very mixed bag. I think we're going to have quite
a few undecided, those not bound to support any one candidate."
The 12 delegates who will be chosen on Saturday each have to represent
a candidate. However, because the campaigns have been so inactive
in Wyoming, it is possible that some delegates will be designated
without being committed to a candidate at all. And if a majority
of these are picked, Wyoming will end up being... undecided.
Full
article here.
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INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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