Romney Wins Wyoming And Other Pre-Debate Notes

January 5, 2008 | Permalink

Mitt Romney won most of the delegates from the Wyoming caucus today; it was lightly contested, and visiting seemed to give him the edge:

“Number one, he campaigned here,” delegate Leigh Vosler of Cheyenne said of Romney. “I think that helped while some other candidates ignored us. But also he’s the right person for the job.”

Hunter, Thompson and Ron Paul all stopped by the state — visits they probably wouldn’t have made except for this year’s early conventions — and candidates have sent Wyoming’s GOP voters a flood of campaign mail. Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, did not visit Wyoming and drew little support. Arizona Sen. John McCain and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani also did not visit and received little support.

“I think we’re encouraged that the voters in Wyoming value that my dad had spent time here,” Josh Romney said.

This certainly helps Romney, but losing two states where he had put in so much time and money would hurt him more than this would help him. If Romney loses New Hampshire, his last resort is a big win in Michigan. So, bucking the conventional wisdom, I don’t think that New Hampshire is do or die for Romney. But it’s certainly important, though. To that extent I agree with Sen. Gregg.

New polls are out; in basically all of them, McCain is ahead by varying margins. Democratic polls show either a dead tie or Obama up about ten on Clinton; the polls with a tie are the more reliable ones, though.

Interesting post at The Corner; Romney is starting to emphasize change, and his crowds are not buying it. Interestingly, they’re not fired up or ready to go about defeating Obama the same way they were Clinton.

McCain keeps using one source to great effect against Mitt Romney: Romney’s own words.

Yesterday, in response to Romney’s charge that nobody currently in the capital can deliver change, McCain’s camp teed up a 2002 quote.

Welcoming the senator’s help during his gubernatorial bid that year, Romney said McCain”has always stood for reform and change.”

Now, Romney is being faced with his own words again.

His scoffing at a town hall meeting this morning about the ability of “mavericks” in Washigton to end pork-barrel spending prompted McCain’s camp to send this along:

John McCain, Romney wrote in his 2004 book “Turnaround,” is “Washington’s number one watchdog against waste”

This is by any calculation a big problem for Romney; it calls into question again Romney’s genuity, which is his biggest problem by any measure.

Mike Huckabee is the lord of the photo-op. Seriously, that’s impressive.

Some are reporting that rumors of Fred Thopson dropping out may have been leaked by the Romney campaign. That’s pretty despicable if its true. Either way, though, the rumors stuck because they rang true. Also, it should be noted that the original Politico article surely would not have run if all the sources were poorly sourced.

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Written by John · Filed Under 2008 Election, Barack Obama, Democratic Ticket, Fred Thompson, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Republican Ticket