Wednesday Open Thread [7.17.13]

“Nobody in Wyoming likes a long campaign, and anybody from Wyoming would know that.” — Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), quoted by the Washington Examiner, taking a dig at primary rival Liz Cheney (R) who announced her bid yesterday. I am not going to attack Liz Cheney for being a carpetbagger, because Hillary Clinton was a carpetbagger and thus I would be a hypocrite. In my opinion, if a state’s residency laws allow someone not currently living in the state to run, then that is the state’s law. But New York is a different place than Wyoming. Many New Yorkers wanted Hillary to run, and she won in a landslide, twice. It doesn’t sound like the Republican establishment in the state wants Cheney to run, and are quite offended about it, actually. It remains to be seen if the Republican primary voter will warm to someone like Liz Cheney. A reader at TPM makes a great point:

I think Liz Cheney just made a fatal career move. Having lived in WY for 35 years, I do not believe that Liz can beat Enzi. I think this is going to cause all kinds of hard feelings in Wyoming because this kind of disrespect to a man who has done nothing to deserve being disrespected in this way will simply not sit well. It’s a very east coast kind of move (think Cory Booker) and will only serve to remind people that Liz Cheney has absolutely no real history in Wyoming.

She also seems to have forgotten a very basic element of the WY electoral process, i.e., we have same day voter registration and Democrats routinely turn into Republicans when they walk into the polling place for the primary and then switch back to Democrat on their way out. Personally, I’ve done this at least 4 or 5 times and I will surely do it again next year. Democrats often do this simply to meddle in the Republican primary, often to vote for the most conservative crazy in the field. But this time, I am sure a lot of Dems will happily switch just for the joy of voting against Liz Cheney.

Yes, she will have a bundle of money. But Enzi will have enough and money just doesn’t matter much in WY elections. It’s the personal connections because, literally, here you don’t just expect to meet the candidates, you KNOW the candidates. And if you don’t know them, your friends know them. Enzi will have all that — and many years of good will and humble, serious service which are values that Wyomingites appreciate — while Liz will have what? Money? A father? And the carpetbag she brought with her. I’ll be stunned if it works.

Wyoming sounds a lot like Delaware in that respect.

From the credit where credit is due department, kudos must go out from us liberals to radical right Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul for declaring their support Tuesday for the so-called Military Justice Improvement Act authored by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. The bill would give the power to investigate and prosecute allegations of sexual abuse and other possible crimes to a senior military officer outside the accused’s chain of command. The cynic in me is saying the both see this as an opportunity to look pro-women, to soften their sharp edges ahead of the 2016 election. Hey, I’ll take it. I will also take both supporting a woman’s reproductive freedom and free and open access to such services, but I will not hold my breath.