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Wednesday, January 27, 2010
2010 - 06 Could Liz Cheney is USA`s top lead dog?
Is there any similarity at all between the 2010 Wyoming governor’s race and the second biggest sled dog race in the country, both of which mushed through our town this past week?
Hmmm. Not sure.
In both cases, the winner will get to the finish line after a great deal of preparation, lots of hard work, a good team of handlers, spending lots of money, good timing and most of all, not screwing up.
The apparent top Republican dog in the governor’s race stopped by for a visit last Thursday and was showing just a tiny bit of trail fatigue. Ron Micheli, 61, of Fort Bridger, smiled when he said he and his wife Patty were a little weary after driving 900 miles the previous day.
On this day, they had been in Riverton early that morning for a radio show on KVOW with Leslie Stratmoen, back to Lander for an interview with KOVE’s Joe Kenney, then an interview at the Lander Journal with Anne McGowan and finally, to our office to chat with this columnist.
After that, they were headed back to Riverton and then on to Worland for the big GOP talkfest that night. Whew!
The other top dogs in the GOP primary were at the Worland event including Rep. Colin Simpson (R-Cody), State Auditor Rita Meyer and former U. S. Attorney Matt Mead.
And the biggest show dog of all was Liz Cheney, who served as the main speaker, no doubt continuing to stamp her imprint onto any future Republican legacy she chooses. The daughter of our former Vice President Dick Cheney is a force in the GOP across the country and could be a player in the 2012 presidential race. Not as the main candidate but certainly as a power broker, it could normally be predicted.
But wait a minute.
Perhaps she is out there in the hustings working on her delivery and prepping for a big day on the stage in 2012? Why not Liz? Then again, with five small kids, ala Sarah Palin, perhaps 2016 will be the key year for her?
The way President Barack Obama is floundering, the country may willingly look fondly to someone whose last name is, well, Cheney. You read it here first.
I really wanted to write a column about the International Pedigree Stage Stop Sled Dog Race (IPSSSDR), though.
For 15 years, the dogs have galloped up and down the canyons and valleys of western Wyoming.
Long considered the second most important sled dog race in the world (the Iditarod in Alaska is number one), it is held in Wyoming each year in January and February.
By the time you are reading this, this year’s endurance race will be coming to an end.
Jackson’s Frank Teasley founded the race. It starts in Jackson and then to Lander, where our Rotary Club hosts a banquet. Then on to Pinedale and Big Piney. Then over to Alpine, down to Kemmerer-Diamondville and finally its last stop in Wyoming is Evanston. Nice banquets and even parades are held. It is a uniquely Wyoming event. But it ends in Park City, Utah, on Feb. 6, if everything goes as planned.
Some of the 20 mushers came over 7,000 miles and a great many are from Alaska and Canada. Several Iditarod winners have competed.
So there we were, enjoying our Rotary Spaghetti and listening to the program and I could not help thinking about the governor’s race. Could the candidates learn anything from these racers?
Veteran journalist Geoff O’Gara scoffed at my idea that the two races could be compared. He likened the political campaigns to a board game.
He said Gov. Dave Freudenthal let out a big clue about his reelection effort by something he said during a one-on-one interview with O’Gara for Wyoming PBS. O’Gara explains:
"Sled dog endurance race? Nah. It`s short and quick in Wyoming. More like a game of CLUE, trying to be first to solve the mystery of who `did it:’ like, say, Diemer True, in the Petroleum Club, with his bank account.
“On the Democrat side, Gov. Freudenthal dropped a big clue with his proposal to amend the federal constitution - something that will never happen, but gets him media attention . . . "
Perhaps so.
To conclude our comparison to a sled dog race, we may want to remember that the view of the race is not nearly so much fun for all the dogs following along behind the lead dog.
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