Wait ... what's that on the map? WYOMING!

I have to imagine that sometime yesterday, as Bill Clinton's motorcade was crawling along the southern edge of Wyoming, going town-to-town, he asked himself why we call ourselves a state, since there are clearly few, if any, people here. He came to Laramie, he saw Laramie, he spoke to Laramie ... and then he left. But he was here.

Barack Obama is here tonight, and Hillary kissed babies, hands and, um, well ... anyway ... in Cheyenne earlier today.

And today, as I'm doing my daily perusal of MSNBC.com, one of the top political headlines reads: "Race not over; next stop: Wyoming." Even the New York times dusted off a map of the States -- all 50 of 'em - and found Wyoming (for those of you who still think that Wyoming is a mythological land existing only in Western novels, it's that box above Colorado and below Montana).

Suddenly, Wyoming is part of the American landscape again. Our heavily Republican state is getting noticed ... but not by the Republicans. The Democrats have practically moved in. I cannot remember ever seeing a television ad or hearing a radio ad for a Democratic presidential candidate before now. I'm struggling to remember them for any presidential candidate. And they wouldn't have ever thought of actually coming here. Campaign offices? In Wyoming? You have to be kidding me ... but there's one for Barack Obama down the way from my office.

They're here. But not the Republicans.

In a place where we're commonly asked what state Wyoming is in or shown some other variation of ignorance, a little bit of attention is really all people want. A little bit of attention might be enough to get some people to overlook their core values and just appreciate that someone of the clout of a Barack Obama or a Hillary/Bill Clinton noticed them.

Attention is nice. It's flattering. I can understand why an otherwise loyal Republican would go the way of Obama (or -gasp! - even Clinton). I like attention as much as the next person. Finally recognizing that my home state is full of a hundred thousand or so real-life voters is like being the one person who spells my name right when everyone else leaves the "h" off. I automatically like you.

Barack Obama's television ads have an actual Wyoming address on them -- we're not getting Colorado's spillover. We're not being expected to drive to Denver or Salt Lake City to see presidential candidates. Bill Clinton went to Rock Springs, for crying out loud. Even people from Wyoming don't go to Rock Springs if they can help it.

John McCain should pay attention. I think that, in a lot of cases - not just the Wyoming one - the GOP is counting on its good ol' reliable voters. Problem is, they're not doing anything to ensure people's loyalty out here in good ol' loyal Republican country.