By Dan Finkelstein
Congressional Quarterly

Electoral votes: 3

Delegates: 18

Chairman: Kathy Karpan

Hotel: Universal City Hilton and Towers (818) 506-2500

1996 Election:
Dole – 50%
Clinton – 37%
Perot – 12%

Wyoming's delegation to the Democratic National Convention could barely field two teams for a pickup baseball game: With just 18 members, it is the smallest state delegation and is one person smaller than the 1996 contingent.

Although Wyoming would normally have a very small cheering section because of its sparse population, its presence at the Democratic convention is limited further by the conservative-leaning state's Republican affinities. Since Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower carried Wyoming in 1952, the only Democrat to carry the state for president was incumbent Lyndon B. Johnson in his 1964 landslide.

Even the past two Republican nominees, who lost their elections, won Wyoming with ease. President George Bush defeated Democrat Bill Clinton in Wyoming in 1992 by 40 percent to 34 percent, with independent Ross Perot pulling off 26 percent. Republican challenger Bob Dole cruised to a 50 percent to 37 percent victory over President Clinton in 1996.

So Wyoming will have little clout at the Los Angeles convention, and its delegates seem to know and accept it. They will "not really" have any agenda with them when they arrive at the convention, according to delegate Eugene Lane Jr., a teacher from Gillette. He estimated that one-third of the state's delegates are teachers.

As for issues the delegation will be advocating, Lane said, "Wyoming is a little different from other states when it comes to the issue of gun control" and may voice opposition to the stricter gun regulations favored by Gore and many other Democrats.

"Public land use is a big issue . . . along with education, the environment and economic development," said Wyoming Democratic Party Executive Director Phoebe Bollin.

At the party's state convention in May, besides pledging overwhelming support for Gore, Democrats also narrowly voted against a platform that called for abolishing the death penalty.

Former Wyoming Secretary of State Kathy Karpan, also a former director of the federal Office of Surface Mining, is leading the delegation to Los Angeles. Karpan lost to Republican Jim Geringer as the party's 1994 nominee for governor and to Republican Michael B. Enzi as the 1996 nominee for the U.S. Senate.

WYOMING NOTABLES: Former Wyoming Secretary of State Kathy Karpan, a former director of the federal Office of Surface Mining who is the delegation chairman; state House Minority Whip Mac McGraw; state Democratic Party Chairman Steve Freudenthal; Democratic National Committee members Bob Schuster and Vickie Goodwin; Wyoming AFL-CIO Executive Secretary John Faunce.