Wyoming's Republicans caucus this Saturday. No one really cares. There have been no polls. None of the candidates will go there (they lose half their candidates for going this early). This reminds me of an old Garfield cartoon, where Garfield tries teaching us about geography. He states that Wyoming is not a state, and in fact, Wyoming is an old Indian language that means, "there is no state here".
But, I have a feeling that since Wyoming has a good percentage of Mormons, that Mitt will do pretty well.
That's odd that noone's paying attention to it. Wyoming must exist. I have memories of going to Casper to watch the annual cannon competition.
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
My oldest had his fingertip sewn back on in the hospital in Rock Springs, WY. That place is way too real in my memory.
-- Edited by hiccups at 12:01, 2008-01-04
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
I sold a horse to a very cute 20-ish girl from Rock Springs. She pulled up in this ni-hice F-350 and $40k 5th wheel horse trailer. My mare looked at me like, "Yeah, I'll see YOU LOWLIFE'S LATER!" and jumped right in the trailer. She stuck her hoof out and waved goodbye.
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Life is tough but it's tougher if you're stupid. -John Wayne
Oh yes - Wyoming exists. I've driven across it at 85 mph several times - I can vouch for it's existence. But there's nobody and nothing in it.
Brigham Young once talked about a particularly ugly part of Utah in terms of "God sort of dumped a bunch of nothing there, so there'd be something between two good bits of His glorious earth" (paraphrasing).
I wonder what he would have said about Wyoming.
LM
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And I'd discuss the holy books with the learned men, seven hours every day. That would be the sweetest thing of all.
Ah, coco. You crack me up. I'm glad you came back.
Speaking of coming back, Bok, your chicken is still in holiday garb. (And it's nice to see you back here!)
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
That's better then. And, yay, another gun totin' av
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
When I lived in Fort Collins, I was walking through downtown Rawlins, and I thought... Boy, I'd love to live here one day... away from pretty much everything.
That said, they should rename Wyoming State the Yellowstone State.
--Ray
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I'm not slow; I'm special. (Don't take it personally, everyone finds me offensive. Yet somehow I manage to live with myself.)
I was wondering, what right does the RNC or DNC have to punish a state that holds it's primary earlier than the date the party blesses? Particularly if the punishment is to limit the number of delegates to the nominating convention? And yet, there is no punishment for states that hold a caucus before the annointed date?
Aren't the parties beholden to the public and whatever election authority there is since the states are spending tax dollars to run and operate the election?
I don't get it. Sure, it is only a primary, but in a way, isn't that kind of disenfranchising the representation of those who vote in the primaries? Can someone explain it to me? Shouldn't the state and federal election authorities have the legal right to decide when primaries are held?
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
The Republican and Democratic parties are private entities. They have the right to set their own rules as they want. If they want to choose their candidate by playing "Eenie meenie minie moe" then that's their right.
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
Yeah, I get that they are "private entities", but the actual election is being paid for out of tax dollars. Seems they should have some of beholden relationship to the states who are paying for them to have their "selection" process include the public... What I don't get is there being able to tell the voters that they result of their election won't have the same impact at the final convention because they broke ranks with the Party calendar.
Let the parties pay for the primaries instead of the county and state governments if the parties are going to dictate the terms by which the election will be held.
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
I wouldn't be against making the parties fund their own primaries.
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
This already puts Romney in front on the delegate count, and his lead is not likely to shrink much if at all in New Hampshire even if he comes in second to McCain.
He probably needs to emphasize this as he goes into Michigan and South Carolina. Romney is the only candidate to be a serious contender in all of the first 3 state contests (or even in 2/3 of them). That is the reason he is ahead and will be at least for a little while.
Who knows what will happen in the future though. If voters in later states incorrectly perceive him to be a loser the perception can turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy.
He grew up in Michigan. I don't know how much that will help him there though. Although his father was greatly loved, that was quite a while ago and people have short memories. Anyway, this is about Mitt, not George.
It was suggested that Romney's win in Wyoming was a result of the large Mormon population there. However, it appears that Mormons represent somewhere from 7% to 11% of the population there. If this were a case of only Mormons voting for Romney, I would expect his delegate count to be similar to Duncan Hunter's.
Incidentally, in Iowa, non-Evangelicals chose Romney over Huckabee by a wide margin.
He grew up in Michigan. I don't know how much that will help him there though. Although his father was greatly loved, that was quite a while ago and people have short memories. Anyway, this is about Mitt, not George.
From what I have seen, people who are long time Michigan residents do not have short memories when it comes to politics. Okay, granted, they can have selective memory loss when it comes to our current "fine" Democrat Governor Granholm and Senators Levin and Stabenow (probably because there just hasn't been a strong enough Republican candidate to overcome the Democrat power base these incumbants enjoy from the three large inner city areas in Michigan)...
But George's legacy is still remembered fondly by many people. That is likely to be a boon to Mitt. People can tell Mitt isn't just making fawning platitudes when he talks about his and his wife's Michigan roots. Mitt's TV ads are also hitting home to the core concerns of a lot of people here, regardless of political persuasion.
So far, the only ads or yard signs I've even seen for Republican candidates have been for Romney and Paul.
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
You want to see bipartisian politics? Look at Washington state where the Democrats and Republicans came together in a large court battles to force the state to no longer have open primaries. Yet, they are still funded by taxpayer dollars. Of course, none of the politicians would stump on this bit of bipartisan pride. It was the party, not them.
