Wyoming's early contest lures candidates

[Ron Burgundy]

AP - For Wyoming Republicans, a decision to jump ahead of other states in the presidential nominating process has paid off: former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson is coming to town.

Saturday's visit by one of the four top tier GOP candidates as part of a forum in Casper has energized the state's Republicans, who haven't felt such a buzz since Dick Cheney became vice president.

"The Wyoming Republican Party knew that it was breaking the rule when it went early. And we said, 'We're the Cowboy State, and we're willing to blaze a trail here,'" said Perry Marple, an attorney and state Republican committeeman who suggested Saturday's forum.

The state's GOP leaders voted overwhelmingly last month to move their delegate-selection conventions to Jan. 5. That gave Wyoming the nation's earliest nomination contest, exactly a month before 22 states hold contests in what has evolved into a national primary.

The national party has rules against holding a primary or caucus before Feb. 5. Wyoming could lose half its delegates to next year's Republican National Convention.

Yet the state party points to Thompson's visit as reason enough to make the move, and one GOP strategist said the reasoning was sound.

"Everyone wants to get the first shot. Everybody wants to be number one. And particularly on the Republican side, the party is not making as much of an effort to stop people from doing it," said Frank Luntz.

He said the candidates who attend the Wyoming forum have an opportunity to gain ground on Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who leads in some early voting states.

"Iowa is Romney territory. New Hampshire is Romney territory. A state like Wyoming is completely up for grabs," Luntz said. "Each one has a chance to score early and spin that narrative."

The other top tier GOP candidates besides Romney — former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain — have also declined, citing other commitments.

Candidates besides Thompson who have said they will attend include Sam Brownback of Kansas and Rep. Duncan Hunter of California.

Presidential candidates campaign in Wyoming, the least populated state with about 500,000 people. In 2004, neither President Bush nor Sen. John Kerry visited the state for public campaign stops.

However, it's not unusual for candidates to swing through ritzy Jackson Hole — one of the nation's richest areas per capita — for campaign donations. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat, and Romney each visited Jackson Hole over the summer.

Amy Larimer, executive director of the state party, said Wyoming Republicans feel that losing delegates might be a reasonable price to pay for drawing candidates.

"People are very supportive of that and willing to take the risk that are we are going to lose 50 percent of our delegates in order for Wyoming to be put on the map and fight for the smaller states," Larimer said.

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On the Net:

http://www.wygop.org

source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070927/ap_on_el_pr/wyoming_republicans [link]