Every last delegate counts for Democrats

It's the least populated state and one of the most resolutely Republican but yesterday Wyoming – the Cowboy State – found itself host to both the Democratic candidates for their party's presidential nomination.

All of this ahead of caucus voting this morning in the next episode of the Obama-Clinton nomination shows that the race is now at the point where every delegate matters, and Wyoming has just 18.

The small numbers – another 40 delegates will be at stake in primary voting in Mississippi next Tuesday – belie the importance of these latest contests, for Barack Obama especially. He will be trying to show that the sudden burst of Hillary Clinton victories on Tuesday was just that, a burst.

In Wyoming he has an advantage because caucus voting has nearly always favoured him and the very large black population in Mississippi should buoy him there. With two wins he could wipe out the gains made by Mrs Clinton in Ohio and Texas.