More people, more enthusiasm, more organization, more money, more influence.

Those are some of the benefits coming from the Feb. 5 Montana Republican caucus, say Flathead County Republican leaders.

The party announced several months ago that it was moving to a caucus system for the first time in recent memory, a change that generated some criticism within the party.

But there are no regrets for Sen. Greg Barkus, R-Kalispell, who is also Flathead County's Republican Central Committee chairman.

"There's been a lot of telephone calls, we've received a lot of interest from people wondering how they can get involved, can they come to the caucus," Barkus said in a telephone interview from the party's state convention in Billings on Friday. "What's really interesting is this is statewide."

The GOP state leadership predicted the conversion to an early caucus would energize the party at the ground level, and that's what is happening, Barkus said.

"It's pure grassroots politics," he said. "What we are trying to do is drill down to the voter."

Barkus noted that six Montana counties previously had no organized Republican Central Committee. The party now has central committees in all 56 counties.

And more than 750 previously vacant precinct positions have been filled in the last couple of months, since organizational efforts for the caucus got under way.

Barkus said the caucus has stirred up interest in traditionally Democratic counties. Hill County has 18 new Republican precinct officers, while Cascade County has 18 and Missoula County has 55.

That kind of participation should translate into long-term organizational benefits. Precinct volunteers can be extremely important in generating voter turnout and in assisting campaigns at the local level, Barkus said.

"Precinct people offer assistance in campaigning, in going door-to-door, in getting signs out," he said. "They can be a great resource for candidates who are looking for help."

Barkus said interested GOP voters should be contacting their local precinct officials to have an influence on next week's "presidential preference" caucus vote, which gets under way at 7 p.m. at the Outlaw Inn in Kalispell. Statewide, about 3,000 people - including precinct representatives and all GOP elected officials - will be voting on the Republican presidential candidates.

Roughly 100 people will be voting at the Outlaw Inn.

CAUCUS rules provide that the candidate who receives the most votes will win all of Montana's 25 delegates to the national GOP convention in Minneapolis, Minn. And Montana's delegates are required to vote for the winning candidate, a considerable change from the way the primary system worked.

Critics of the caucus system maintained that the state party was disenfranchising Republican voters by making the June primary election irrelevant in terms of the presidential race.

Barkus and other caucus backers maintain the June primary was already irrelevant, because it's held long after other states determine the party's nominee and because Montana's delegates to the national convention were not required in any fashion to support the GOP candidate who got the most votes in Montana.

"The delegates that were selected to go to the national convention were not bound to vote for anybody," Barkus said.

The June primary was so irrelevant that candidates rarely bothered to even consider Montana as being a part of their national race. But this year they are paying more attention, Barkus said.

As of last week, the state party had received $20,000 from the presidential campaigns.

"We've never seen that before," he said.

FLATHEAD Valley precinct officials have been trying to drum up voter interest and input in the caucus. Some have held open houses or meetings.

"In our case, we have a list of people who have generally voted Republican in previous elections," said Anita Hoye, who chairs Precinct 4 in Kalispell along with her husband, Ron. "We're calling those folks to get their input."

Dave Skinner, a Precinct 46 captain, said he and other Whitefish area precinct officials organized a joint meeting last week. The turnout was somewhat disappointing, with fewer than 20 people showing up, but there was a lively and worthwhile discussion at the meeting, he said.

"The thing that was good about having a caucus meeting, we had a really good roundtable discussion about what's happening on the national stage," Skinner said. "That alone made it worthwhile for me personally."

Skinner speculates that the low turnout possibly can be attributed to Montana voters being accustomed to having little influence on presidential primary politics.

"We're so far out in the sticks and so far down the food chain, and it's such a front-loaded process," he said. "And I think that's partly the reason the party leadership made this change (to an early February caucus). It had to do with relevance."

Skinner said he has heard from supporters for all the remaining candidates, with no overwhelming support for any single candidate.

"I have no idea what's going to happen at the caucus," he said.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com