Wyoming basks in the spotlight

He planned to see Obama later in the evening in Laramie, about an hour away.

On Thursday, Bill Clinton drew about 5,000 people to three rallies across the more populous southeastern part of the state.

Chelsea Clinton, the couple's daughter, held court in a college cafeteria in Casper, drawing about 200.

Joseph Hall, a 28-year-old student at Casper College, said he was grateful that candidates were visiting. He sat near where two students were dishing out free ice cream as the crowd waited for Chelsea Clinton to arrive.

"We never get anyone," Hall said. "I see on CNN all these giant rallies with people holding signs, hootin' and hollerin.' I wish we had more stuff like that to participate in."

Chelsea, who arrived an hour late, did not give a speech. Instead, she took questions for an hour, sounding nearly every policy note -- similar in wording -- that her parents hit on the campaign trail.

In Laramie, her father made reference to the state's motto -- "Equal Rights" -- when he told an overflow crowd at the University of Wyoming: "You led the nation with women's suffrage; you might as well lead the nation with the first woman president."

Caucus day also happens to be International Women's Day.

"It's just so exciting to have this presidential race shape up such that our votes really do matter," said Wyoming Democratic Party spokesman Bill Luckett, whose phone has been ringing nonstop since Tuesday, when it became clear the state was going to be in the sights of the national political media. "It's fantastic and an honor to have Sens. Clinton and Obama and former President Clinton coming to this state to try to get its support."

Luckett said Democratic officials were scrambling to accommodate larger-than-planned-for crowds for today's 23 caucuses, one in each county. Only Democrats will be allowed to vote, and most will have to arrive at least an hour before their caucus starts in order to register. Lines, and some confusion, are anticipated.

There have been no public polls of Democrats here asking specifically about Clinton versus Obama -- not, it turns out, because of Wyoming's libertarian bent and intense regard for personal privacy, but because no one expected the state to be a player in the contest.

"Anybody that tells you what's gonna happen on Saturday is strictly guessing," said Cheyenne ophthalmologist John A. Millin, who chairs the state Democratic Party.