From: Sunflower Desert.com

http://conservablogs.com/sunflowerdesert/2007/09/29/1st-hand-reporting-from-the-wyoming-gop-presidential-forum/

1st Hand Reporting from the Wyoming GOP Presidential Forum
Published by Tammi at September 29, 2007

I’m back! What a fun time. Where should I start? Well, only three of the Republican Candidates for President came to Wyoming today; Congressman Duncan Hunter, Senator Sam Brownback, and Fred Thompson. The latter only went to Casper this morning and did not travel on to Riverton for the second forum. Many candidates asked to send surrogates, but if you let one candidate do that, then they all will do it. Therefore the forum committee made it clear that only Presidential Candidates could speak at the forum. However, since Fred Thompson actually did come to Wyoming, his opening speech in Casper was videoed and played in the Riverton auditorium. It seemed fair enough.

What didn’t seem fair, and actually ticked me off, was that Mitt Romney sent his son and a few others from his campaign. Well, Mitt’s son, Josh, started playing the I own land in Wyoming and pay property taxes in Wyoming card. So, not sure who made the decision, but someone decided to give Josh Romney 6 minutes to speak in Riverton on behalf of his father. Of course, the 6 minutes turned into more than 10. How fair is that to the other candidates who wanted to send surrogates? Not very. Not to mention, I thought it was a slap in the face to the candidates who actually bothered to come to Wyoming. Not sure if you realize it or not, but one actually does have to go out of their way to come here, though Mitt Romney is not one of those people.

After Josh Romney wrapped up his spiel, it was Congressman Hunter’s turn. Wow! He was spectacular. No surprise to me, but I spoke to several Republican friends who knew nothing of Hunter prior to the forum and could hardly wait to cast a ballot for him at our convention in January! I didn’t take notes and I’m not really not regretting it. Go here if you want to know where Duncan stands on the issues because he doesn’t waiver and he has a long voting record that matches his stance on issues. I will tell you that Wyoming discovered Hunter today, and thanks to most of the candidates snubbing our state, I think Hunter will win here.

I’ll give Senator Brownback some credit. I like Sam. He really is a stand up guy. I wish his stance on illegal immigration was different, but until that changes, I can’t support him. Once again though, he is a great guy. I really think most of you would like him. He’s fairly young and will most likely run again in the future.

UPDATE: Oops, forgot to credit Scott, from Wyoming Vote Tracker for taking the picture of me with Congressman Hunter. Thanks Scott!

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