As I've written before, like J Ro, I tend to take a rather optimistic view of the potential impact of a somewhat protracted battle for the nomination on the Democratic Party and our chances in the fall. The media, not surprisingly, seems to be taking the opposite frame -- that the ongoing Clinton v. Obama contest is a net plus for John McCain -- for a spin lately.

Earlier today Fox News did its chicken little best blaring the following headline from the bottom of the screen:

While Dems Bicker, John McCain is Fundraising and Focusing On Key States

Less alarmist is this MSNBC.com headline:

As Dems Fight, McCain Vies For Spotlight

Neither headline can be said to be untrue, of course, but the frame each advances is one of bickering (read: divided, petty) Democrats versus a solitary (read: strong, above the fray) McCain.

Framing it this way certainly makes for catchy headlines but it misses a really big part of the story. For example, this article out of Wyoming suggests another way the media might choose to go.

The Wyoming Democratic Party is experiencing a resurgence unlike anything in decades, and that was happening before the candidates' appearances said [WDP spokesman Bill Luckett.]

More than 2,000 people registered recently as Democrats, with 1,300 of those in the three days before the Feb. 22 deadline for eligibility to participate in today's caucuses, he said.

The party is planning for up to 7,000 Democrats to participate in caucuses today, with as many as 900 in Natrona County alone, Luckett said.

Luckett goes on to explain why this is so important regardless of Democrats' chances in Wyoming on the presidential level.

He expects the new interest to extend to more Democrats interested in running for office and supporting those who do, he said.

Gary Trauner of Wilson, who is making a second bid for Wyoming's lone U.S. House seat, will have volunteers at the caucuses to recruit more volunteers, Luckett said.

As a result of our candidates' vying for what looks like will ultimately be every single state (plus Puerto Rico and Guam,) we are seeing unprecedented organization, party registration and participation on the part of longtime and new Democrats all over this country. The importance of this for the fall can not be underestimated. This is te 50-state strategy at work.

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Bumped & Updated - Jonathan

The other thread is pretty full so here's another one:

√ Barack Obama: 4,138 state delegate equivalents (58 percent)
Hillary Clinton 2,876 state delegate equivalents (41 percent

with 91 percent precincts reporting

Update [2008-3-8 17:11:37 by Todd Beeton]:Been at 78% for a while. Heading out now for a bit so won't be able to update, but please track the results in the comments as they refresh.

Update [2008-3-8 18:2:2 by Jonathan Singer]: CNN has called the contest for Barack Obama.

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Some huge turnout in Wyoming today. This is how Fox News reported the situation at the Cheyenne Civic Center:

Overwhelming, out of control and lines around the block. Those are all words that have been used to describe turnout.

At the Cheyenne Civic Center, they were planning for 500, they got 2000.

So, good right? Well, not for everyone. They later had a Wyoming state rep on who reported that in Casper "they had to turn people away. The line was queued up around the building when they shut the doors."

Turning people away? Really?

The AP has more:

In Sweetwater County, more than 500 people crowded into a high school auditorium and another 500 were lined up to get inside.

"I'm worried about where we're going to put them all. But I guess everybody's got the same problem," said Joyce Corcoran, a local party official. "So far we're OK. But man, they keep coming."

Party officials were struggling with how to handle the overflow crowds. The start of the Converse County caucus was delayed due to long lines.

In Cheyenne, scores of late arrivers were turned away when party officials stopped allowing people to get in line at 11 a.m. EST. A party worker stood at the end of the line with a sign reading, "End of the line. Caucus rules require the voter registration process to be closed at this time."

Vera Double, 71, said she arrived late because she had a hard time finding parking.

"I'm so proud to see there are this many Democrats showing up in Cheyenne, but I'm very disappointed in the rules because we had difficulty parking and we had a long walk and they closed it off at 9 (a.m. MST)," she said. "I consider it -- we're disenfranchised, which they've done in other parts of the country."

Look, caucuses make sense for states that are not used to mattering in the process and where turnout is usually paltry; caucuses are far cheaper than a primary after all. But that alone should give us all pause. The fact that finances drive the decision to engage in a process that is, on several counts, an exercise in dis-enfranchisement, is really disturbing. Maximizing participation should be paramount, not saving money.

Update [2008-3-8 16:18:15 by Jerome Armstrong]: I was reading through a thread over on TalkLeft and came across this: 'The total vote to total delegates is listed as 8553 Obama to 9289 Clinton.' In essence, for every delegate earned, it's taken Clinton 736 votes more for each delegate she's gotten compared with Obama. I'd like to get that number checked out. It's quite a bit of a handicap that Obama's being handed through his process-powered campaign. In the end, I believe that the "Math Club" is gonna be trumped by the popular vote total in terms of importance for the nomination.

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I'm seeing some caucus results come in. Per CNN:

Barack Obama 59%
Hillary Clinton 40%

with 78% precincts reporting

Update [2008-3-8 12:59:19 by Jerome Armstrong]: The expectation being that Obama would win, he'd need to get greater than 64.285% to move to a 8-4 split of the delegates, a win of 28% or more. A win of 1-28% would garner a 7-5 split of the delegates.

Update [2008-3-8 13:7:45 by Jerome Armstrong]: County results, via CNN. Clinton has won or tied in the 3 eastern counties, and Obama has won by larger margins in 3 western counties and 1 eastern county. Laramie, Albany, and Natrona, the three largest counties, are still outstanding.

Update [2008-3-8 14:0:32 by Jerome Armstrong]: With a big win in Albany, Obama moves above the threshold mentioned above. Obama's won 6 counties, Clinton 2, and they've tied in 2.

Update [2008-3-8 14:19:43 by Jerome Armstrong]: More counties reporting. Sweetwater becomes Clinton's largest county victory, 57-43 over Obama, and Obama takes Natrona 50-49. 7 counties for Obama, 4 counties for Clinton, and 2 tied. The 7-5 delegate split looks likely.

Update [2008-3-8 14:59:5 by Todd Beeton]:Just a note, per CNN the largest caucus precinct in the state, which is in Cheyenne, has yet to report -- they haven't even done the caucus portion of the event yet, so if that breaks one way or the other dramatically we could see a big late shift in the numbers.

Update [2008-3-8 15:7:55 by Todd Beeton]:Live on CNN, the Cheyenne precinct results were just announced and they went for Obama pretty solidly but also pretty consistent with the statewide vote, so not much will change:

1532 total votes cast

Obama: 940 votes
61%
33 delegates to the state convention

Clinton: 588 votes
38%
21 delegates to state convention

Now they're caucusing.

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