CHEYENNE - Wyoming Republicans gather today at county conventions to help select their party's presidential nominee.

Will anybody care?

While Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mike Huckabee generated lots of attention from victories at Thursday's Iowa caucuses, the same is not likely to happen for the winner in Wyoming.

Wyoming has barely cracked the consciousness of national news reporters and pundits who have talked ceaselessly about Iowa and already are focused on New Hampshire's Tuesday primary.

Mitt Romney, who finished second in Iowa as a Republican, briefly mentioned Wyoming on cable TV Friday morning. Some national newspapers, including the Washington Post, ran an Associated Press story about the local events.

But many other news outlets either carried nothing, or were scrambling for a last-minute mention of the conventions here.

A producer with the C-SPAN TV network said Friday he was just now doing research for some coverage of the Wyoming conventions.

A professor of political science at Colorado University in Boulder admitted that Wyoming's conventions today had slipped his mind. Nothing in his morning newspapers - the New York Times, Washington Post and other metro dailies - had jogged his memory.

"Everybody has moved on to New Hampshire," said John McIver, associate professor of political science at CU. "I don't recall seeing anything about what might be happening anywhere else in the country right now."

Wyoming Republicans advanced their county conventions to Jan. 5, just after the Iowa caucuses, in hope of attracting attention from GOP presidential hopefuls.

They made history when Duncan Hunter, Ron Paul, Fred Thompson and Romney became the first presidential candidates to campaign in Wyoming before winning the party nomination.

Still, none of the candidates were devoted in the way they are to Iowa and New Hampshire. Some top candidates, including John McCain and Mike Huckabee, didn't bother to visit at all.

The lack of attention translated into only occasional mentions about the Wyoming conventions in the national media, and those sometimes came with a wink.

Jim King, political scientist at the University of Wyoming, said the traditional early voting states have again proved too powerful for Wyoming. Timing was one problem, he said.

With New Hampshire voting so soon after Iowa, the candidates didn't have a moment to spare in Wyoming.

Even if Wyoming Democrats had joined the party in moving up their county conventions, it's unlikely that candidates, or the press, would have paid attention, King said.

"If they've got a choice between winning here and dong well in New Hampshire, they will take New Hampshire," King said.

But Tom Sansonetti, 2008 state Republican county coordinator who helped develop the Wyoming strategy, said the early conventions have already been a success.

The goal all along, Sansonetti said, was to convince candidates to pay attention to rank-and-file Wyoming Republicans, and that happened.

"Anything above and beyond that is icing on the cake," said Sansonetti, adding that he spent much of Friday giving interviews to reporters from C-SPAN, CNN, ABC radio the New York Times and other major news outlets.

In addition, Sansonetti said, a candidate who does well in Wyoming today will have an opportunity to trumpet the results to the national news media tonight. They'll also have fodder for Sunday night's New Hampshire debates.

"All we need is four column inches in an AP article that hits everything from Savannah, Ga., to Sacramento, and it's been a success," Sansonetti added.

Not everyone was convinced.

Dave Marcum, political scientist at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne, said state Republicans appear to have scored no major victories by advancing their county conventions.

In the scheme of things, Marcum said, Saturday's vote probably won't make much difference at all.

"It would really surprise me if what happens here tomorrow resonates much in the campaign," Marcum added.

Reach capital bureau reporter Jared Miller at (307) 632-1244 or at jared.miller@trib.com.