Thomas death sets up big '08

[TransitJohn]

Source: Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune

Thomas death sets up big '08

By JOAN BARRON
Star-Tribune capital bureau Wednesday, June 06, 2007

<+> Click on Photo for
Larger View and Cutline
*

CHEYENNE -- The death of U.S. Sen. Craig Thomas has set up 2008 as a big and unusual year for Wyoming politics.

All three congressional seats will be up for election.

Two of those seats are occupied by Sen. Mike Enzi and Rep. Barbara Cubin, both Republicans. The two have not announced their political intentions, but observers at this point expect both to seek re-election next year.

Meanwhile, the Wyoming Republican Central Committee will pick three candidates to replace Thomas in the state's other Senate seat until the 2008 elections. Making the appointment from the list of three names will be Democratic Gov. Dave Freudenthal.

Though only two potential candidates contacted by the Star-Tribune expressed interest in the appointment Tuesday, the list of hopefuls could be long.

The same appointment process was used for the first time when Freudenthal named Republican Jim McBride to be state superintendent of public instruction in 2005. That vacancy was triggered by the resignation of Trent Blankenship, who quit the elected post to take a job as school superintendent in Barrow, Alaska.

This relatively new system puts Freudenthal in a position to choose the person the Democrats will face in the 2008 general election.
**snip**

Read more: http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2007/06/06/news/top_story/e6f0e4126e4ac604872572f200033576.txt

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Some days I feel dumber than a flat-earth Fundie.

I swear, this aspect of the situation hadn't occurred to me:


"This relatively new system puts Freudenthal in a position to choose the person the Democrats will face in the 2008 general election."

What a singularly stupid law! It puts pressure on the Governor to appoint the poorest of 3 candidates.

[Karmageddon]

2. But the GOP gets to pick the 3 options. If they can't find 3 decent candidates, that's their bad.

This way he can oppose any that are truly heinous. I actually think this system makes perfect sense.

[Mike Daniels]

3. I gather he has to pick one of the three offered

He can't say "Nope, they all suck. Send me three more".

If the Repubs happen to send up three strong candidates then the Gov. has to choose from what he was dealt.

[Jackpine Radical]

4. Or he can pick one who is so genuinely awful

that he has no prayer of being elected.

That's the problem with thee system; there is no incentive to pick the best candidate; the pressure is to pick the worst.

[TransitJohn]

5. Only because

the open seat and the governor are of different parties. All in all, I think it's a good law.

[fishwax]

6. he can only pick one who is genuinely awful if the repubs nominate one who is genuinely awful

so it's incumbent upon them to pick three who wouldn't be ...

[Karmageddon]

11. Exactly. If they can't find 3 non-awful candidates in the whole state, that's their problem

[Duer 157099]

7. The Governor should choose the strongest candidate

and then run against him in 2008

[fishwax]

8. who might the dems run in those races, TransitJohn?

Trauner is running against Cubin again, right? (I think another two years of Bush could well be enough to push those last thousand votes in his column :))

So who might wind up running for the senate seats? Will Freudenthal serve out his term? Will Mike Sullivan get back in the game? Patrick Crank? Some other rising star?

[TransitJohn]

9. Not sure

about Trauner again...but he did real well last time. If Gov Dave ran against Cubin it'd be a landslide for him...but maybe he'd like to go to the Senate instead. Sullivan *might* get back in the game. And as an aside...whatever happened to rising star Kathy Karpan?

[fishwax]

10. I remember her, but I don't remember anything since she lost to Enzi in '96

I think she was still secretary of state when I left Wyoming for college in '93. I did a quick google and she worked in Clinton's Interior Dept. as the head of the office of surface mining, but there's no ready information on her after the 90s. Weird ...

I'm pretty out of touch with Wyoming politics, though, as it can be difficult to follow from far away. I run my eyes through the list of state reps and senators now and then to see if there's anyone I know, but as far as what's happening locally it's hard to get a handle on it.

I checked Trauner's web site last night, and he's got a website "paid for by Trauner for Congress 2008" (though there's no information on it, only a place to contact the site or to donate): http://www.traunerforcongress.com/.