CHEYENNE -- The Wyoming Republican Party is prepared to suffer the loss of half its delegates if that's what it takes to ensure that the state has a meaningful voice in national politics, a state GOP leader said.

Tom Sansonetti, the Wyoming Republican Party's 2008 county convention coordinator, said party officials were aware of the risk of losing half its 28 delegates when they voted in August to leapfrog other states in the primary process. The Wyoming GOP has moved a portion of its delegate-selection process to Jan. 5.

"There was a solid consensus by everybody that the price of playing in the nomination process was worth the loss of the delegates," Sansonetti said.

Playing by the rules and holding a county convention Feb. 5 or later, Sansonetti said, would "doom the Wyoming Republican Party to being a non-player, with no visits, no phone calls, no direct mail, by the national candidates."

The Republican National Committee's executive committee on Monday also recommended New Hampshire, Florida, South Carolina and Michigan lose half of their delegates to the national convention. All those states except New Hampshire have scheduled nominating conventions in January. New Hampshire is required by state law to hold its primary at least seven days before any other.

If the recommendation is adopted, Wyoming would lose 14 delegates.

Sansonetti said the state would lose the three automatic delegates -- the state chairman, national committeeman and national committeewomen. The other 11 delegates stripped from the list would probably come from the bottom vote-getters at the state GOP convention May 30 in Rock Springs, he said.

In a conference call Monday with reporters, Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan said the penalties won't be acted upon by the full RNC until after state elections in November. He said it's possible that if the offending states reschedule their nominating contests, they could be spared the punishment.

"We always believe in redemption," Duncan said.

At least one state, South Carolina, is considering legal action in an effort to keep its delegates to next year's Republican National Convention.

Amy Larimer, executive director of the Wyoming Republican Party, said she doesn't expect the state party will challenge the executive committee's recommendation.

"I think we're just going to let it ride," she said. "It's a rule; it's clearly stated in the RNC rules."

Both national political parties are struggling to retain control over state party votes. The Democratic Party has voted to strip Florida of all its delegates as punishment for scheduling its primary on Jan. 29, prompting the state party there to file a lawsuit seeking to block the punishment.

Sansonetti said the Wyoming state party's move already has paid dividends. Four of the Republican presidential candidates have visited the state, "and that's four more than we used to get."

Sansonetti said national candidates are also courting state party officials with phone calls and mail.

In late September, GOP candidates Fred Thompson, Sam Brownback and Duncan Hunter all attended a candidate forum in Casper. The three had been trailing in polls in Iowa and New Hampshire and apparently hoped to capitalize on Wyoming's new higher political profile.

"We wanted our Republican state committeemen and women and officers to have some attention paid to them so they had the opportunity to vote when it counted, when it meant something," Sansonetti said.

Sansonetti said the Republican Party no longer selects its presidential nominee at the national convention. He said the real choice is made during the primary process, while the convention provides a way to ratify the votes that have been totaled up during the primary season.

"So whether you send 14 or 28 doesn't really mean much any more," Sansonetti said.

Sansonetti said he supports the so-called Delaware Plan, under which the states with the lowest populations would hold their votes first, followed by successive rounds of primaries in which states with the highest populations would vote last. He said Wyoming officials have supported the plan for the last eight years, but have seen little interest in change at the national level.

Even if the full RNC votes to uphold the penalty against Wyoming and the other states, both Sansonetti and Larimer said they doubt that it will stick once the party's national convention rolls around.

"I suspect that once we have a nominee that we will be seated," Larimer said.

Sansonetti noted that Wyoming is one of the most supportive of all states of Republican candidates and hasn't voted for a Democrat for president since 1964.

"What a shame that Wyoming, as supportive as we are of Republican candidacies over the years, ends up getting punished because we would like to have a small say in who our party's candidate is going to be," Sansonetti said.

South Carolina GOP Chairman Katon Dawson said he will consider legal action if his state is penalized delegates.

"We're going to check the legality of it," Dawson said in a telephone interview. "I don't think we will have any problem going to fight for our delegates. Will we get them all? I don't know, but we are certainly going to put up a fight."

New Hampshire GOP Chairman Fergus Cullen said his state's delegates are being punished, even though they have no say on the date of their primary. New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner has the sole authority to set the state's primary date.

Cullen, however, said he is willing to accept the punishment to "protect and preserve" New Hampshire's status of having the first primary in the nation.

"The RNC has made it clear that they intend to enforce the rules against any state that goes before Feb. 5," Cullen said Monday. "We hope it doesn't come to that. We feel that we have something special that takes place in New Hampshire, a process here that's serves the nation well."

It will be interesting, Sansonetti said, to see what New Hampshire is going to do. That state's delegate selection is now set for Jan. 27 but cannot stick with that date, as state law requires a primary at least seven days before any other state.

If New Hampshire moves into December, "then that really shows how foolish things are. That would be exhibit A as to why things are broken," Sansonetti said.