CASPER, Wyo. -- On Saturday morning, while his two rivals for the Republican nomination stay back east, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) will fly to this city to address the state GOP convention. The potential prize: Fourteen delegates to the national convention in Cleveland. The competition: Hard to find. On Friday, with no explanation to either party officials or media, Donald Trump's campaign announced that Sarah Palin would cancel her scheduled speech here. Today, as Republicans gathered for a barbecue and fried chicken dinner, the campaign of Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio) was invisible, and the Trump campaign was clearly outmatched.

The story can be simply told in the leaflets that the campaigns are issuing to the 64 people campaigning to become delegates. Trump, who performed weakly at the county conventions in March, has no explicit slate. At a table near the main hall, where pro-Trump candidate Cat Morningstar has provided her own essay about why she should go to Cleveland, Trump's campaign has provided the email of the "Wyoming team," and nothing else.

"We know how Wyoming is going to go," Trump senior adviser Paul Manafort conceded in an interview this week.



A palm card that Donald Trump's campaign is using in Wyoming. (David Weigel/ The Washington Post)

Cruz's campaign, by contrast, is buzzing with activity. His Wyoming delegate hunter Ed Buchanan could be seen busily setting up a hospitality suite -- the only one of its kind, a contrast with the competition in North Dakota's convention two weeks ago. At every dinner table, Cruz's campaign has provided a simple list of its preferred 14 delegates.

A palm card that Ted Cruz's campaign is using in Wyoming. (David Weigel/ The Washington Post)

The most immediate competition for Cruz may not be Trump, but a campaign for a "Wyoming first" slate that would attend the convention unbound to any candidate. But Cruz faced a similar situation in North Dakota, and got most of his preferred delegates elected. According to Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Cruz has rushed into a gap that might have otherwise been filled by the libertarian supporters of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), and brought out the most sophisticated delegate-chasing operation Wyoming has yet seen.

Ed O'Keefe contributed reporting from Washington.