CHEYENNE - Wyoming media have spoken, voting Cynthia Lummis' victory over Gary Trauner to claim Wyoming's U.S. House seat the biggest Wyoming news story of 2008.

Lummis, a Republican former state lawmaker and treasurer, defied polls that predicted a close race. She took an early lead on election night and easily beat her Democratic opponent from Jackson Hole, 53 percent to 42 percent.

Keith Domke, managing editor of The Riverton Ranger, said Lummis' win easily got his top-story vote.

"It was a race that drew a lot of state and even national attention," Domke said. "It was a hard-fought battle on both sides and we didn't know what the outcome would be until well after the election was under way."

The delisting of wolves under the Endangered Species Act - and wolves' relisting under the order of a Montana federal judge - came in second in the poll by The Associated Press.

Rounding out the top five were:

-The firing of Wyoming football coach Joe Glenn and his replacement by Missouri offensive coordinator Dave Christensen;

-Wyoming's Democratic caucuses, which occurred at the height of the race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and drew both presidential candidates to the state to campaign;

-The sentencing of former Campbell County Fire Chief Gary Scott to more than 24 years in prison on federal felony convictions of taking children across state lines to molest them.

Lummis' win will give Wyoming a new voice in the U.S. House for the first time in 14 years after the upcoming retirement of Rep. Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo.

The editor of the Casper Star-Tribune, Chad Baldwin, said Wyoming had every reason to expect a close race between Lummis and Trauner after Trauner nearly beat Cubin in 2006. Yet this year's race wasn't close at all, even after Obama and Clinton energized Wyoming Democrats by visiting the state in March.

"That excitement among Wyoming Democrats didn't translate into much success at the polls. Cynthia was a good example of Wyoming voters sticking with Republicans," said Baldwin, who also voted it top story.

Wolves continued to be big news in Wyoming in 2008.

Wolves were delisted in March, allowing them to be shot on sight in most of Wyoming. In July, U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy blocked planned wolf hunts in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. He then reinstated the Endangered Species Act protection in October.

The year ends with the future of wolf management in the three states still very much uncertain.

Wolves' delisting and relisting was Wyoming's top story of the year in the eyes of Lee Lockhart, publisher of the Northern Wyoming Daily News in Worland.

"How is anybody going to know how to play by the rules when the rules keep changing?" Lockhart said. "The wolves are having an impact in the Bighorn Basin and I think it's time to let the people who are most impacted by those decisions help control the destiny of what is to happen."

Glenn's firing after three consecutive losing seasons was voted Wyoming's third-biggest story.

Brian Martin, managing editor of the Wyoming Tribune Eagle in Cheyenne, said talk of Glenn's departure evolved from a matter of if into a matter of when, and was a hot topic of conversation.

"Looking at the rest of the news stories for the year, it certainly was top in terms of reader interest," Martin said. "It was such sustained conversation over a long period of time. That moved it up for me."

Martin ranked Glenn's firing as the top Wyoming story of the year.

Wyoming's Democratic caucuses in March happened at the height of the battle between Obama and Clinton for every delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Clinton and Obama both campaigned in Wyoming ahead of the caucuses - rare attention from major Democrats in an overwhelmingly Republican state.

Powell Tribune Managing Editor Tessa Schweigert spent most of the year in England volunteering with a Christian charity. She said she read about the Democratic caucuses in England and felt they were Wyoming's biggest story of 2008.

"That was a story that really went beyond Wyoming's borders," Schweigert said.

Scott, the former Campbell County fire chief, molested many of his victims while they were in a fire cadet program he'd started. Prosecutors say the abuse continued until his arrest in 2007.

Scott pleaded guilty in March to 10 felony counts and in June was sentenced to 24 years in prison.

Scott's plea and sentencing was voted Wyoming's fifth biggest story. Deb Sutton, managing editor of The Gillette News-Record, closely followed the Scott case and ranked it third on her list.

"These are small areas we live in, small communities, and it's an 'it-can't-happen-here' kind of story," Sutton said. "It continues to be a very shocking case."

Uncertainty over snowmobiling in Yellowstone National Park, a dispute over allowing snowmobiles over Yellowstone's Sylvan Pass, and the possible effect of Obama's election on Wyoming industry also got votes as major Wyoming stories this year.