Who will be running for Wyoming Governor in 2018 and who
will win? Seems premature to be thinking of this in August of 2017, but that is
what we political observers like to do.
I think two
important aspects are going to dominate this campaign:
First,
candidates will need to get out early and line up their supporters across the
state.
Second, this
baby will be the most expensive governor campaign in Wyoming history.
All the fun
and all the action in this race is on the Republican side. We have two deep-pocketed candidates already
lining up and they both know a lot about Wyoming state government. I am talking about State Treasurer Mark
Gordon and Secretary of State Ed Murray.
Both men have
a huge desire to further serve the people of Wyoming. And the way they both can
imagine to best serve the state is to be the governor.
There are
other possible candidates like Matt Micheli, Taylor Haynes and Darin Smith of
Cheyenne. Bill Dahlin of Sheridan has already announced.
But the early
betting and handicapping will be on Murray and Gordon.
So where is
former U. S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis in all this?
She was lining up supporters earlier this year and looked like a shoo-in
to me. I am not sure in the history of
Wyoming a candidate could run who would have been better prepared than Cynthia.
But no
go. She let her supporters know three
weeks ago that she was not going to run, after all.
Political
observer Larry Wolfe of Cheyenne has some thoughts on the race:
“Since Cynthia
is out we might see Leland Christensen, Tim Stubson, Ogden Driscoll, Tyler
Lindholm and Larry Hicks. Even Jillian Balow and Kari Jo Gray,” he says. “What
about Eli Bebout, Steve Harshman, or Drew Perkins? Dave Kinsky? Ray Peterson?
“Someone like Albert Sommers, who is in the thick of the
education debate, might come to the governor’s race.
“Of course the other interesting
speculation is for the other four offices. If Murray and Gordon run, their
seats are up. Is Cynthia Cloud running again? Jillian Balow may decide to take
a Diana Ohman jump to Secretary of State. There will be lots of candidates for
these lesser offices. Mary Throne might consider State or Treasurer.
“On a personal note, President
Donald Trump has turned me into a Democrat although I am still a registered R!, Wolf said. ”
Speaking of Democrats, Ryan Greene,
Throne and Chris Rothfuss could all be worthy candidates for governor from that
side of the aisle.
Now I know
something about running for governor, although most of my experience is pretty
dated. It was 2002, some 15 years ago,
that I ran a rather decent campaign with disappointing results.
But there are
things I learned, and I will share them today.
First, in
Wyoming all the action is in the primary.
It is virtually impossible today for a Democrat to win the general.
Thus, GOP candidates need to get out early and often. What is crazy is that nobody but us pundits
is interested in the race until June of next year. But you still need to get
out there and press the flesh.
Second, the
campaign schedule can seem to be rigged.
The primary is in late August so nobody is paying attention to your ads
when they count the most. This fact, alone, will drive the treasurers of most
campaigns up a wall as hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent in those last
critical weeks. The primary date favors those candidates who have been working
for years cultivating those Republican primary voters.
Third, by May
2018, you lose control of your campaign.
There are so many conventions, parades, fairs and programs; you go crazy
in the last 13 weeks just trying to be at all the events. It is hard to draw a crowd so you have to go
where the crowds are. All this drives
your campaign chairman batty as he or she tries to keep focused on what is
happening.
Fourth, it
will be the greatest experience of your life.
You have no idea how big Wyoming really is until you have a campaign
event in Evanston at noon and one in Gillette that evening. I had my own
airplane and it was nearly impossible to get to everything.
So there you
have it. The campaign season is upon us and we have a year to go before that
all-important August 2018 primary.
Stay tuned.
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