Wyoming Vote Tracker

For all the naysayers about WYGOP holding its county conventions in January this year as opposed to the typical March date, consider this. On January 5, there were seven candidates for the GOP Presidential nomination in the running. Today, not even a month later, three have dropped out in the space of twelve days. Two of those candidates had delegates awarded from Wyoming.

Some may argue that we should have waited for March. The field would have had the lower-tier candidates whittled out by then and we could have supported a “winner.” My thinking is that the early conventions were a plus for Wyoming. We had five presidential candidates visit us (six if you count Democrat Bill Richardson’s visit). On top of that, we got to choose from a wide array of candidates while making the choice mattered, rather than just following along with the rest of the country.

I recently inquired via e-mail of the state GOP about Wyoming’s RNC delegate situation. WYGOP Executive Director Amy Larimer responded:

Me: In light of the recent withdrawals of former Sen. Fred Thompson and Rep. Duncan Hunter, what will happen to the four delegates they received in the Jan. 5 county conventions? It seems to me that they would at least be “uncommitted.” Is this so, or does there have to be an official release from the candidates beyond withdrawing from the race?

Also, I know Rep. Hunter endorsed Gov. Huckabee; does that endorsement require the Hunter delegate (as well as the alternate) be a supporter of Huckabee?

Amy Larimer: At this time 3 of our delegates are uncommitted and 1 is still connected to Thompson. I assume that delegate will declare after February 5.

Me: Gov. Romney has pledged to fight for all delegates to be seated if he is the nominee. A popular topic of discussion is the nominee’s power to over-ride the rule regarding pre-Feb 5 delegate selections. Are there plans to elect the full slate of remaining delegates at the state convention for the RNC as a “just in case” measure?

Amy Larimer: We are going to elect our full slate of delegates in hope that the GOP nominee will seat our full delegation in September. These delegates will be elected on May 31 at our state convention in Rock Springs.

Me: I also saw this morning on the CNN election site that there are now 9 Wyoming delegates in the Romney column; Presumably, the 9th is one of the super-delegates?

Amy Larimer: One of our Thompson delegates, Bruce Brown, committed to Romney.

So, the updated delegate count from Wyoming is Gov. Romney: 9 and Mr. Uncommitted: 3.

Oh, and ladies, in spite of my very-extremely single status, I’m not Mr. Uncommitted

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