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Tuesday, June 08, 2010
024 - Wyoming political season looks like a glorious feast!
If this Wyoming political season was a meal, it just went from a Value Meal at McDonald’s to a seven-course gourmet delight at the Casper Petroleum Club.
A short time ago things were so boring, it was common knowledge that many Democrats were going to register as Republicans so they could participate in a contested primary.
Not so today.
With five candidates for governor on the Democrat side and seven on the Republican side plus five candidates for State Superintendent of Public Instruction, voters are going to have a wonderful time in the next two months trying to pick their winners.
As just about the only journalist in Wyoming who has run a statewide political race, it is easy for me to anticipate the next little while as enthralling.
To follow up on my meal analogy, let me offer up to you what I think are the tastiest morsels on this menu:
• Perhaps the most delicious political development of all is the entry into the race by former State Supt. of Public Instruction Trent Blankenship. He is running against the man who replaced him (Jim McBride) plus you have revenge-seeking Cindy Hill and former Cheyenne Supt. Ted Adams in that race.
Some folks may feel sorry for Trent for the grief he will end up taking during this campaign for resigning and moving to Alaska three years into his earlier term. I even called him Trent Abandon-Ship in my column.
But he is a strong campaigner who loves kids and he wants to set the record straight. This could be interesting.
Plus Democratic State Sen. Mike Massie of Laramie could end up winning the general after these other folks fight for their Republican lives in the primary.
• The second most delicious political event is the entry into the Democratic gubernatorial primary by Leslie Peterson of Wilson.
The cool and savvy Leslie is as sharp as they come. Many folks think she is as capable as the four leading Republican candidates. She may also be one of the few candidates to come out of Jackson Hole without carrying the outsider image, which can turn off voters from elsewhere around the state.
Jackson Hole? I love Teton County, but sorry, many of us also consider Leslie a Fremont Countian.
She grew up in the Dubois area and is the daughter of the long admired Les Shoemaker, one of the nicest gentlemen this state has ever seen. He was a founder of the Wyoming Dude Ranchers Association, and operated one of the best ranches of this type in the country, the CM Ranch.
For the longest time, political observers (this one, included) assumed that who ever cleared the Republican primary would almost automatically win the governorship. Not so anymore.
Her campaign announcement listed her as a “Freudenthal Democrat.” Very smart. If she wins her primary, those general election debates and forums could be doozies.
And we thank Pete Gosar for jumping into the Democratic race, too. He is a good, solid Wyomingite who loves his state.
• A third delicious political course (dessert?) is the upcoming campaign by David Wendt of Jackson. He is planning a general election campaign against incumbent Cynthia Lummis for Wyoming’s lone U. S. Representative seat.
No doubt an underdog, Wendt will not be a pushover. He was one of Wyoming’s leaders in starting a serious dialogue with Chinese coal operators, for example. No stranger to fund-raising, he confidently says he will spend $400,000 to $500, 000 on his campaign.
His gentlemanly bearing may betray him to voters who do not realize that he was a head wrangler on a ranch in his younger days.
I would anticipate him not making the campaign mistakes made two years ago by Mark Gordon’s staff, which cost the Buffalo rancher that election race against Lummis.
As for the overall political scene, Wyoming has a really dumb election calendar. Having the primary Aug. 17 often means that voters just do not pay attention to the primary campaigns occurring all summer long.
But this one might be different.
The candidates are everywhere. My advice is to read the newspapers, listen to the radio, watch the TV, scan the Internet sites, read campaign ads and materials, even join Facebook and Twitter.
By mid-August, both the candidates and the public will be suffering campaign fatigue, but this year it will be worth it.
And the stakes are very, very high.
Finally thanks so much to the candidates for jumping into these races.
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