Wyoming GOP conventions go to Romney

Mitt Romney may have come in second in Iowa, but he was first in yesterday's Wyoming Republican county conventions, which have received little attention:

Wyoming chose the first delegates to the Republican National Convention on Saturday, giving Mitt Romney bragging rights by awarding him the first of the lot.

The state selected the first 12 of 14 delegates to the national convention in September. The final two delegates will be elected at the state convention in May.

The former Massachusetts governor won eight delegates, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson got three and California Rep. Duncan Hunter one.

None of the other candidates won any delegates.

Romney's decision to spend a bit of time campaigning in Wyoming seems to have paid off. It's interesting that Republicans there went with Romney, the darling of the conservative D.C. establishment, and ignored Mike Huckabee, whose campaign has been more populist (and embraced by many fundamentalist Christian Republicans).

Wyoming Republicans scheduled their nominating events for early January in violation of national party rules. Consequently, Wyoming will be stripped of half its delegates at the Republican National Convention in the Twin Cities.

Wyoming Republicans, incidentally, did not hold precinct caucuses yesterday, they held county conventions.

Some traditional media outlets have been referring to the nominating events yesterday as caucuses, which is misleading.