GREEN RIVER - Jamestown resident Kathy Beasley sports a Obama sticker while husband Jack wears a pair of Hillary pins as the couple waits for Saturday's Sweetwater County Democratic caucus to begin.

"He's old-fashioned … I'm not," she says in explanation with a sly grin.

Nearby, Green River High School teacher Bridget Hower stands at the Clinton campaign table with three-year old Keith Lance, who clutches his blue Hillary for President sign. "You got to shake it like a Polaroid picture," she demonstrates over her head.

Down the crowded hall, 82-year old Mary Holbert of Rock Springs donates $5 to have her picture taken with a cardboard cut-out of a life-sized Hillary Clinton. "I'm all for Hillary … I'd love to see her win," she says.

Sweetwater County Democrats applied their own unique brand of caucus Saturday morning as the nation's focus turned briefly to Wyoming, where 12 delegates are at stake in the once-unlikely battleground state.

Riding the momentum from former President Bill Clinton's hugely-attended campaign stop in neighboring Rock Springs on Thursday, Sen. Hillary Clinton won 14 of 24 county delegates during the sometimes raucous Sweetwater caucus.

Rival Barack Obama, a U.S. senator from Illinois picked up the other 10 delegates that will be sent to the state Democratic convention May 23-24 in Jackson.

Clinton won 56 percent of the total vote to Obama's 42 percent. The final tally was 342 votes for Clinton and 254 votes for Obama.

Some 800 area Democrats packed the Green River High School auditorium for the caucus in blue-collar Sweetwater County, a traditional Democratic stronghold. Lines to register for the event ran out of the building.

"We ought to bask in our 15 minutes of fame," joked keynote speaker Paul Hickey of Cheyenne, a former Democratic gubernatorial candidate.

Many Democrats, like Howard Logan of Green River, were attending their first-ever caucus. Logan said he was there more to see a caucus in action than to support Clinton or Obama.

"I'm fiercely independent," he said. "I came because I've never really been through the (caucus) process. I want to see this process work."

Others, like the Beasleys, saw the caucus as the culmination of weeks of fervent political debate.

"We've certainly had some excited discussions around the household the last few weeks," said Hillary-backer Jack. "I've been trying to convert her, she's been trying to convert me … it's a vicious circle we've had going on."

Green River student and Obama supporter Joe Backstrom, 21, relished his first time as an active member of the political process. Following his first caucus, Backstrom was moved to run for a delegate spot, although he wasn't selected.

Backstrom said he was particularly impressed by Obama's use of the Internet to raise campaign donations. "Obama's getting his funding from people off the Net … he's not going to have his soul owned by all the corporations," he said.

Lifetime Rock Springs Democrat Helen Poulos formally nominated Clinton while supporters chanted "Hill-A-Ree!" over and over. Obama backers responded with chants of "Yes We Can!," an oft-repeated mantra used by Obama during his run to the Democratic nomination.

Poulos said she was voting for Clinton for a variety of reasons.

"I like her strength, I like her courage, I like her energy and I like the way she fights for what's right," Poulos said. "But most of all, I like her experience."

Sweetwater County Democratic Party Chairwoman Joyce Corcoran called the caucus "grass-roots democracy at its best."

Southwest Wyoming Bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at (307) 875-5359 or at gearino@tribcsp.com.