US presidential hopeful Mitt Romney won the little-noticed
Republican caucuses in Wyoming Saturday, after finishing the second
in Iowa caucuses on Thursday.
For Republicans, the Wyoming caucuses are the second battle in
the presidential nominating contest, but their impact is far less
than the Iowa caucuses, which kicked off the 2008 presidential
nomination for both Republicans and Democrats.
Nevertheless, Romney, the former governor from Massachusetts,
took some momentum from his first victory in the presidential
race.
In Wyoming, he won support of seven state delegates out of the
total of 12, who will be sent to the Republican national convention
in early September, according to voting results reported by Wyoming
Republican party's website.
Former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee won two delegates and
Rep. Duncan Hunter of California won one.
Romney's win was largely due to the absence of most of his
strong rivals, including Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas
governor and winner of Iowa caucuses, John McCain, senator from
Arizona, as well as the national poll leader and former mayor of
New York Rudy Giuliani.
Wyoming, which is the smallest state in the country in terms of
population, has been largely ignored by most candidates in
presidential nomination race.
Presidential candidates from both parties are now concentrating
on the upcoming first-in-the-nation primary in New Hampshire on
Jan. 8, which may make or break their chances to get the party
nomination.
(Xinhua News Agency January 6, 2008)
