CASPER, Wyoming (AFP) — Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney scored a morale-boosting victory in the Wyoming nominating contest here Saturday ahead of next week's crunch New Hampshire primaries, results showed.
Romney, desperate to get his campaign back on track after being trounced by rival Mike Huckabee in last Thursday's Iowa caucuses, won eight of the 12 delegates up for grabs in the sparsely populated state.
Former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson won three and California's Duncan Hunter won one, results on the Wyoming Republican Party website showed.
The Republicans' selection contest in Wyoming has been largely ignored by candidates on the campaign trail, who have preferred to concentrate resources on the bigger early battles in Iowa and New Hampshire.
In a statement released on his campaign website, Romney hailed the victory as a triumph for the forces of change.
"Today's results are evidence that Americans want change, and our message of strengthening America through strengthening our economy, our military and our families is resonating with voters," Romney said.
"... I will continue to campaign in this important state as the remainder of its delegates are selected and through to the general election in November. This is just the beginning."
US news media virtually ignored Romney's victory in Wyoming Saturday as all eyes remained firmly fixed on the crunch contest in New Hampshire on Tuesday that will play a bigger role in shaping the overall battle.
The caucuses in cowboy country took place earlier than scheduled despite the objections of the Republican National Committee, with local Wyoming party officials attempting to drag the prarie state into the spotlight.
But as a result of Wyoming Republicans' decision to advance the date of the contest to Jan 5, the state had its number of national convention delegates slashed by half from 28 to 14.
Twelve delegates were selected in Saturday's county conventions while two more will be chosen at a state convention in May.
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