And the delegates go to Romney, Thompson and Hunter!

It took a good 10 minutes for me to fully understand the results of the Wyoming caucus. First, I got confused when I tried to match up the numbers, given the fact that YESTERDAY the NYT had listed Wyoming didn't get penalized by the RNC for moving their caucus up so they got 28 delegates...and what HO! this morning, the NYT and others show that indeed the RNC DID penalize Wyoming so they only had 12 delegates.

Once I figured THAT out, I visited several different news sites (USA Today, ABC News, The Seattle Times and the Wyoming Tribune) to get clearer information and the result is that Romney gets 8 delegates, Thompson gets 3 and Hunter gets 1.

Let's see what their websites reveal (not bothering with the social networking sites, as they are lagging behind on updates anyway)...

Romney: After some digging I found a reference on the BLOG! And that's a quick post from son Craig with a picture of the party in Casper, WY. Nothing anywhere else.

Hunter: Well, nothing has changed at this website -- the Iowa countdown is still going...um...it's negative...but it's still going. So, no word of Wyoming at all.

Thompson: Nope. Nothing. Big focus on the debates from last night.

WEll Wyoming -- in the article from the Wyoming Tribune it's clear you feel pretty good about the fact that you actually had several candidates VISIT your state before the caucus -- and that this is a step up for you from the past. The article actually talks about 2012 putting Wyoming more in the spotlight. Yeah. Good luck on that! Was it worth losing the 12 delegates? You know, for all the media and candidate attention you received? [insert cricket chirping sound effect here].

On to New Hampshire!

Where's Wyoming?

Today is the Republican Caucus in Wyoming. Yep. Big news. Um...didn't even make a "blip" on CNN Headline news this morning as they talked about politics and showed footage from New Hampshire.

This news item from CBSNews Online tells the story...sort of: GOP Ignores Jan. 5 Wyoming Conventions. In the story it is clear that the candidates aren't paying much attention to Wyoming and its 28 delegates [UPDATE 1/6/08 -- its 14! NYTimes had 28 yesterday and has upsted to 14 so they did get penalized for moving the primary forward] (out of 2,500 approx total). Poor Wyoming. What happens when a state party moves it's primary/caucus up to get more attention and they are STILL overshadowed by Iowa and New Hampshire? Tsk tsk...Poor Wyoming...

Here's today's schedule for Wyoming and here is where the results are supposed to be posted (it's an excel file -- not super high tech, but it works if they update it). Looks like the earliest one starts at 8:00 a.m. and the latest at 5:30 p.m.

Let's see who cares....

• Giuliani: Clearly doesn't care. Not a mention on the website or the blog.
• Huckabee: Really cares...about New Hampshire. Sorry Wyoming..no mention there either.
• Hunter: Well I can load the site today. Um...still has an Iowa countdown. No mention of Wyoming...or New Hampshire for that matter. Hello?? Anyone Home??
• Keyes: Hey -- Wyoming is actually on the Calendar on the home page! Wow! This of course from a candidate who is struggling to get anyone to report his results in Iowa.
• McCain: Um...nope. Doesn't care. Even in the state listings there is NO Wyoming. And no Wyoming on the blog either.
• Paul: Nope. Doesn't care. Care's about New Hampshire for sure...but not Wyoming.
• Romney: Don't feel the love here either. Under upcoming events NH, SC and MI get billing...but no Wyoming.
• Thompson: OMG! on the "Fred File" there is actually a post that says, "Help Fred in Wyoming!" And it's on the Home page of the site! Wow! That's it.

So while I like to think that I'm not naive when it comes to politics I admit to being surprised at the total lack of media coverage and news about this caucus. Explain to me how this shows the candidates are inclusive and care about the country as a whole? Seems almost like Vermont! I guess I shouldn't be surprised really. So...sorry Wyoming.

From one small state to another, look at it this way, at least the President has visited YOUR state (grin).