Obama Wins Wyoming Caucuses
Larry W. Smith/European Pressphoto Agency
Voters at a Democratic caucus in Casper, Wyo., on Saturday.
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By JULIE BOSMAN
Published: March 9, 2008
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Senator Barack Obama continued his string of victories in caucus states on Saturday, beating Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in Wyoming by a wide margin.
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The victory, while in a state with only 18 delegates, was welcome news for the Obama campaign as it sought to blunt Mrs. Clinton’s momentum coming off her victories in Ohio and Texas on Tuesday. Mrs. Clinton had campaigned here Friday, a day after her husband and daughter, signaling the stakes every contest holds in the fierce battle for the Democratic nomination.
Party officials reported extremely high turnout at caucus sites across the state. More than 1,500 residents of Laramie County came to cast votes at the caucus site in downtown Cheyenne, filling the auditorium. Hundreds more waited outside for hours until they could enter and vote.
Wyoming Democrats, usually a lonely bunch in an overwhelmingly Republican state, basked in their moment in the spotlight.
“Wyoming, this is our 15 minutes,” Kathy Karpan, a former Wyoming secretary of state who supported Mrs. Clinton, said on Saturday morning.
With 96 percent of the precincts reporting, Mr. Obama was leading Mrs. Clinton by 19 percentage points.
While both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama pushed hard to win the state, the Obama campaign’s early organizing here appeared to have paid off. The campaign set up shop two weeks before Mrs. Clinton’s did, opening five offices in the state to two for Mrs. Clinton. And Mr. Obama went on the air with television and radio commercials this week, and Mrs. Clinton had two radio ads running.
Mrs. Clinton’s decision to focus on Wyoming was a tactical departure for a campaign that had played down the importance of such caucus states, essentially ceding many of them to Mr. Obama, while deriding the caucus process as undemocratic. But as Mr. Obama collected 11 victories in these contests, and with Mrs. Clinton determined to cut into her opponent’s stubborn lead in delegates, the Clinton campaign deployed Chelsea Clinton and Bill Clinton on Thursday, with a final campaign sprint by Mrs. Clinton on Friday.
The newfound attention by the candidates and the national media drew to the Saturday caucuses many newly registered Democrats — officials said there were more than 2,000 registrations recently — and lifelong Democrats who have never caucused before.
Vernice Sack, 80, and her husband, Paul Sack, 83, counted themselves among the first-time caucusgoers. They both supported Mr. Obama, they said. “He’s got the right ideas,” Mr. Sack said.
The campaign now moves to Mississippi, which holds its primary Tuesday. Mr. Clinton campaigned there Saturday, striking a theme his wife has been repeating on the campaign trail: that Mr. Obama would make a good running mate (but as second fiddle.)
Wyoming, with its half-million residents, is the least populated state. It will award 12 delegates based on the results of the caucuses, with 6 others who could go to the convention uncommitted.
Instead of the traditional caucus format, most of Wyoming’s 23 counties held caucuses conducted by paper ballots, where participants simply placed a check mark next to the name of their chosen presidential candidate and put the slip into a ballot box.
Most of the attention focused on the most heavily Democratic towns situated in the southern half of the state, where the Union Pacific railroad was built in the late 1800s, leaving a strong union tradition.
In Natrona County, where Mrs. Clinton was endorsed by two local state representatives, Mr. Obama won by seven votes. Mr. Obama also won a lopsided victory in Laramie County, the most populous county in the state, where 1,532 people cast ballots and where Mr. Obama did not even campaign.
The first caucus to report results, in Niobrara County, reported a tie between Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton. Fredda Lou Kilmer and her husband, Everett, hosted the caucus at their home in Lusk, in east central Wyoming. There are 101 registered Democrats in the county, she said, and 20 participated in the caucus on Saturday.
“Nobody will admit to being a Democrat here,” Mrs. Kilmer said.
First-time caucusgoers included Judy Dunn, of Cheyenne, her husband, Ted Dunn, and their daughter, Pam Pafford.
Leaving the auditorium in Cheyenne, all three said they had cast their votes for Mr. Obama. “Wyomingites are pretty independent,” Mrs. Dunn said. “We like somebody who speaks like him.”
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Voters at a Democratic caucus in Casper, Wyo., on Saturday.
Article Tools Sponsored By
By JULIE BOSMAN
Published: March 9, 2008
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Senator Barack Obama continued his string of victories in caucus states on Saturday, beating Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in Wyoming by a wide margin.
Skip to next paragraph
Blog
The Caucus
The CaucusThe latest political news from around the nation. Join the discussion.
* Candidate Topic Pages
* More Politics News
The victory, while in a state with only 18 delegates, was welcome news for the Obama campaign as it sought to blunt Mrs. Clinton’s momentum coming off her victories in Ohio and Texas on Tuesday. Mrs. Clinton had campaigned here Friday, a day after her husband and daughter, signaling the stakes every contest holds in the fierce battle for the Democratic nomination.
Party officials reported extremely high turnout at caucus sites across the state. More than 1,500 residents of Laramie County came to cast votes at the caucus site in downtown Cheyenne, filling the auditorium. Hundreds more waited outside for hours until they could enter and vote.
Wyoming Democrats, usually a lonely bunch in an overwhelmingly Republican state, basked in their moment in the spotlight.
“Wyoming, this is our 15 minutes,” Kathy Karpan, a former Wyoming secretary of state who supported Mrs. Clinton, said on Saturday morning.
With 96 percent of the precincts reporting, Mr. Obama was leading Mrs. Clinton by 19 percentage points.
While both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama pushed hard to win the state, the Obama campaign’s early organizing here appeared to have paid off. The campaign set up shop two weeks before Mrs. Clinton’s did, opening five offices in the state to two for Mrs. Clinton. And Mr. Obama went on the air with television and radio commercials this week, and Mrs. Clinton had two radio ads running.
Mrs. Clinton’s decision to focus on Wyoming was a tactical departure for a campaign that had played down the importance of such caucus states, essentially ceding many of them to Mr. Obama, while deriding the caucus process as undemocratic. But as Mr. Obama collected 11 victories in these contests, and with Mrs. Clinton determined to cut into her opponent’s stubborn lead in delegates, the Clinton campaign deployed Chelsea Clinton and Bill Clinton on Thursday, with a final campaign sprint by Mrs. Clinton on Friday.
The newfound attention by the candidates and the national media drew to the Saturday caucuses many newly registered Democrats — officials said there were more than 2,000 registrations recently — and lifelong Democrats who have never caucused before.
Vernice Sack, 80, and her husband, Paul Sack, 83, counted themselves among the first-time caucusgoers. They both supported Mr. Obama, they said. “He’s got the right ideas,” Mr. Sack said.
The campaign now moves to Mississippi, which holds its primary Tuesday. Mr. Clinton campaigned there Saturday, striking a theme his wife has been repeating on the campaign trail: that Mr. Obama would make a good running mate (but as second fiddle.)
Wyoming, with its half-million residents, is the least populated state. It will award 12 delegates based on the results of the caucuses, with 6 others who could go to the convention uncommitted.
Instead of the traditional caucus format, most of Wyoming’s 23 counties held caucuses conducted by paper ballots, where participants simply placed a check mark next to the name of their chosen presidential candidate and put the slip into a ballot box.
Most of the attention focused on the most heavily Democratic towns situated in the southern half of the state, where the Union Pacific railroad was built in the late 1800s, leaving a strong union tradition.
In Natrona County, where Mrs. Clinton was endorsed by two local state representatives, Mr. Obama won by seven votes. Mr. Obama also won a lopsided victory in Laramie County, the most populous county in the state, where 1,532 people cast ballots and where Mr. Obama did not even campaign.
The first caucus to report results, in Niobrara County, reported a tie between Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton. Fredda Lou Kilmer and her husband, Everett, hosted the caucus at their home in Lusk, in east central Wyoming. There are 101 registered Democrats in the county, she said, and 20 participated in the caucus on Saturday.
“Nobody will admit to being a Democrat here,” Mrs. Kilmer said.
First-time caucusgoers included Judy Dunn, of Cheyenne, her husband, Ted Dunn, and their daughter, Pam Pafford.
Leaving the auditorium in Cheyenne, all three said they had cast their votes for Mr. Obama. “Wyomingites are pretty independent,” Mrs. Dunn said. “We like somebody who speaks like him.”
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