Sen. Hillary Clinton's wins in Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island's primaries on Tuesday have made the race for the Democratic presidential nomination closer than ever. Every state counts now, so the nation turns its eyes to Wyoming, which holds its caucuses Saturday.
But Democrats in Dick Cheney's home state haven't played a major role in presidential politics since 1960 — when the state's delegation cast 15 votes for Sen. John F. Kennedy — pushing him over the top and making him the party's nominee. Jim King, head of the political science department at the University of Wyoming, says that this presidential season, rather than be ignored, Wyoming is thrilled to be "in the thick of things."
Republicans outnumber Democrats in voter registration here by more than two to one. But 12 delegates are up for grabs in the state's caucus, and for the rest of this week, at least, it's the Democrats who are dominating conversations in Wyoming.
King says Sen. Barack Obama has been the candidate with the more significant presence in Wyoming. He and staffers have been contacting voters, sending out mailings and have opened several campaign offices. Obama has widely been perceived to be ahead, King says, in part because he'd raised more money in the state.
But the Clintons haven't been far behind. Even if Clinton has been slow to establish a Wyoming beachhead, former President Bill Clinton was in the state Thursday.
King says he was one of many who tried to see the former head of state. "I stood in line for an hour and a half," he says. "But I did not get in the door." King says that while Bill Clinton's first years were not popular in the state because of his policies for use of federal lands, as he became more familiar and the economy grew, so did his approval rating — a lingering legacy that King says could help the senator here.
Both Clinton and Obama are slated to be in Wyoming on Friday.
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