This is hilarious. Turns out that the one state Multiple Choice Mitt managed to win was completely irregular (h/t dc20005):

The results of Republican nonbinding straw polls in some Wyoming counties Saturday don’t jibe with the statewide delegate selection results in favor of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

In Johnson County, for example, former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee came in first in the straw poll, while Romney was in fourth place […]

In Park County’s straw poll, Hunter outpolled Romney 26-20, according to the Cody Enterprise’s online edition. But the county delegates chose Marilyn Taylor, a Romney supporter, as an alternate delegate to the national GOP convention.

In Campbell County, Romney supporter Greg Schaefer won the delegate slot although Paul won the straw poll, according to published accounts.

And in as many as half the counties, they didn’t even HOLD a straw poll.

Isn’t this what the primary process was meant to STOP, these kind of Tammany Hall (or Laramie Hall, in this case) tactics? I mean, this pretty much comes off like Romney bought the Wyoming primary, far from the media spotlight.

Prompting Tagg Romney to say, “I can haz inheritance now?”

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It truly is exciting today, here in this small, mostly white state out in flyover country, where a small subset of Americans will cast their ballot and determine the fate of the GOP hopefuls. The media crush is simply amazing, everywhere you look there’s another reporter. And the polling has been so non-stop that you expect another one after the caucusues are over! Yes, the eyes of the nation are truly upon Wyoming today!

Wait, you haven’t heard about it?

Don’t forget Wyoming. It’s been overlooked in the hoopla surrounding Thursday’s Iowa caucuses and next week’s New Hampshire primary, but Wyoming Republicans will caucus Saturday and choose delegates to the national convention in September.Candidates have paid little attention to the state, though.

Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, Duncan Hunter and Ron Paul have passed through since September. Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani and John McCain have not.

“Yes, there have been some appearances by the candidates in this state that otherwise wouldn’t have occurred this early in the process,” said Jim King, who teaches political science at the University of Wyoming. “But candidates are where the media are — in Iowa and New Hampshire.”

This is an example of how truly arbitrary this whole selection process is. The media isn’t covering Wyoming because they’ve decided New Hampshire is more important, and anyway who wants to go to Wyoming after spending all that time in Iowa? So they ignore it, which causes the candidates to ignore it, because the important thing about these early races is the bump and not the win. Not that Wyoming should be decisive, but there’s no real reason it should be dramatically less decisive than Iow and New Hampshire; all they have going for them is history. This is exhibit A of why the whole system needs an overhaul.

The good news here for Fred Thompson is that it’s another state he gets to skip! And a roar went up in Thompson headquarters. Or a snore. Or something.

UPDATE: Mitt-mentum!  

CHEYENNE, Wyoming: U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney grabbed the early lead in Wyoming’s Republican caucuses Saturday as the state had its brief moment in the political spotlight between the traditional attention-getting contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.

This is good news for John McCain.

UPDATE II: With 83% of precincts reporting Romney has 70% of the delegates, Freddie Thompson 20%, and Duncan Hunter 10%. Hugh Hewitt just had a heart palpitation.

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Wyoming Republicans just set their primary caucus for January 5, leapfrogging the entire field (well, for now, at least). The RNC has already sought to punish other states who have failed to abide by rules governing primary dates. The Wyoming Republican Party doesn’t seem to be that worried about it.

“We’re first in the nation,” said Tom Sansonetti, the state party’s 2008 county convention coordinator. “At least for the next couple, three weeks until New Hampshire and Iowa move, which I expect they will.”

At this rate, the first primary will be held last week, and John Cox won, so why aren’t you on the bandwagon?

I hope that the end result of this debacle of a primary process this year will result in some fundamental change for 2012. There’s a massive free-rider problem here where the states have every incentive and no disincentive to move up. It’s horrendous for democracy.

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