The Wyoming Rules

While states with larger populations such as Florida and Michigan are making frontal assaults on the January primary calendar, Wyoming Republicans have mounted a quieter bid for a coveted position near the beginning of the presidential nominating season. At first they tethered their caucus date to that of the New Hampshire primary, much as Ahab to Moby Dick. But rather than wait indefinitely for the Granite State to fix its date, the Wyoming GOP settled on Jan. 5 as the day to select a dozen of its national convention delegates.

Conventions in 12 of Wyoming's 23 counties will each elect one national convention delegate, with the rest selecting alternates. Laramie County (Cheyenne) will select both. Thirteen more GOP delegates will be chosen at the state convention in late May. Roughly 1,000 Republican precinct committee members across the state will comprise the county conventions Jan. 5 and elect what may be the first dozen national convention delegates of 2008. As of early October, there were no plans for a straw vote to be held in conjunction with the county conventions, but the presidential preferences of the delegates elected are expected to be known.

Wyoming Democrats begin their process in March with county caucuses. Participation will be limited to registered Democrats. As of November 2006, there were 263,083 registered voters in Wyoming—162,952 Republicans, 67,246 Democrats, and 32,885 independent and third-party voters.