Wyoming Gets Its 2nd Big GOP Visit, Will Vote On January 5th

Here is the problem for New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation:

Wyoming is selecting its GOP delegates on January 5th.

Conventional wisdom says that Gardner will set a January 8th date for New Hampshire.

Wyoming gets about as many delegates (percentage) as New Hampshire does.

So what happens if the winner of Wyoming is not the same as the winner of New Hampshire?

Well, the Wyoming winner wouldn't be making a "perfect" argument on January 9th if he said, "Team Romney/McCain might have taken New Hampshire yesterday, but we took Wyoming 3 days ago. And we both got about the same number of delegates."

But it's not a terrible argument either. Especially for a campaign that is forced by circumstance (they lost!) to make it.

Muddied messages the day after the New Hampshire Primary is something Bill Gardner would really like to avoid.

Which is why we still think that a New Hampshire December Primary is the most likely.

In our humble opinion.

The Wyoming GOP Wins Us A Beer

The primary calendar is still very much in play.

Because Wyoming is still screwing with Bill Gardner's world. Hard.

A problem for Gardner that we wrote about all the way back in March.

But when we posted our Wyoming story we were promptly told "tsk-tsk" by a young, New Hampshire based political reporter with impeccable sources.

"Wyoming? Jesus Christ! It will be a cold day in hell when a 'major' Republican candidate sets foot in Wyoming," our friend said.

Or something like that.

So we bet our friend a beer.

And waited. For hell to freeze over.

Which it now has.

And it's a serious problem for NH's first-in-the-nation defenders.

Why Is Wyoming's Early 2008 Presidential Pick Still The Biggest Story You've (Probably) Never Heard Of?

First Rudy leaves New Hampshire for California and now this.

For weeks we've heard murmurs of Wyoming's uppity intention to swoop in and steal New Hampshire's First In The Nation thunder.

Murmurs no longer.

This morning we called the Wyoming Secretary of State to see what we could see about Wyoming's '08 plan to select presidential delegates.

We didn't see much.

Wyoming, unlike NH, allows its Parties to decide when to hold their primary.

So we called the Wyoming Democratic State Headquarters.

The Wyoming Democratic Party told us that Wyoming Democrats would select their presidential delegates on March 8, 2008 come "hell or high water".

Again, not much of a story since the NH Primary will be in January of '08.

But then we called the Wyoming Republican State Headquarters and JACKPOT!

"Yes, the Republicans will select 12 delegates on the same day as the New Hampshire Primary," said the cheerful woman on the other end of the telephone.

She even directed us to a Casper Star Tribune Article from February 6, 2007:

The Wyoming Republican Central Committee voted unanimously Saturday to have the party's presidential delegate selection next year on “the same date as the new Hampshire Republican Primary, whenever that may be.”

New Hampshire's presidential primary is scheduled for January 2008.

Tom Sansonetti, a former Wyoming Republican Party chairman who presented the proposal to the committee, said Monday that once the information about Wyoming gets to the New Hampshire secretary of state, “the feathers will fly."

New Hampshire always wants to be first in the national presidential selection game, and the secretary of state is authorized to change the date if needed.

“That's the reason for the wording of the resolution,” Sansonetti said Monday. “We've worded it in such a fashion that we're like Velcro. We're stuck right up against them. So where they go, we go.”

“It will be the first Western primary for the Republican Party,” Sansonetti said.

Feathers will fly? VELCRO?

Has New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner finally met his match?

Wyoming is a small state that has (so far) proved proficient at running elections. However, we wonder if they can keep the Velcro sticking as Mr. Gardner bobs, weaves and stalls over the next 11 months.

IMPORTANT NOTE(!!!): But, if Wyoming stays stuck, how does Wolf Blitzer explain the difference between New Hampshire's 32 delegates and Wyoming's 12 delegates when a candidate needs 1,255 delegates to win the Republican nomination?

In other words, what's the difference between 1% and 3% to a CNN viewer?

Is Wyoming going to be as important as New Hampshire in nominating our next President?