Hunter’s delegation to the convention likely will be able to meet in a phone booth, but hey; in a brokered convention, what if he becomes a key vote? For want of a nail…
Romney, Hunter, Fred Thompson and Ron Paul all stopped by the state; the only one who got nothing out of it was Ron Paul. I’d hoped my man Fred would get more, but 3 isn’t bad for a single visit and almost no expenditure. It also suggests little carryover from Iowa and real weakness of Huckabee outside the South.
Mitt did better in the debate than McCain and seems to be gaining in New Hampshire. Will McCain’s run end in New Hampshire? Possibly; but if split decisions continue, maybe no one will formally drop out in hopes of wheeling and dealing in a brokered convention.
Filed under: Mitt Romney, Politics, Ron Paul
I know this was in the defense of Ron Paul’s not having delegates but it applies to everyone. There was no real “caucus” here.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/018271.html
http://www.wygop.org/images/wy/eight%20da%202008%20form.xls
Wyoming GOP county conventions gave their delegates to Romney, Thompson, McCain, and Hunter. But Ron Paul never stood a chance there.
We shouldn’t have expected anything from Wyoming. Most observers didn’t understand the rules.
The Wyoming county conventions were NOT open to Republican voters. Eligible delegates consisted of only two groups: Republican party officials who were elected in 2006; and delegates who were appointed (by established precinct organizations) to fill empty delegate seats. The rules are explained here.
Each county convention elected either one delegate or one alternate. They were assigned one or the other by the state party based on past vote totals for GOP candidates in their county.
Each county convention was presented with delegate candidates, who were either pledged to a Presidential candidate or unpledged. The winner in each county had to get over 50%, so runoffs were held.
In most cases, the winning delegate candidates were county party leaders who were chosen because of who they were, rather than who they are supporting for President.
Wyoming’s system is a throwback to the old days of backroom nominations. There was little chance for new party activists to participate in this process, only old-timers made the choice.
Their choice on how it was done; they chose a ‘republic’ model, since those officials are generally elected themselves. Paul thought it worth paying a visit; it didn’t pan out. And if we end up in with a brokered convention, the Wyoming process will seem massively democratic compared to that one :)