Posted on 07/18/2013 11:20:18 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Rand Paul is formally endorsing Sen. Mike Enzi as he faces Liz Cheney in a Wyoming GOP primary next year, Paul told POLITICO in an interview Wednesday.
“I’ve told him I’ll do anything I can to help him,” the Kentucky GOP senator said. “In fact, somebody asked me today if they could use my name, and I said I’d be happy to sign on and do a fundraiser for him.”
Paul said he isn’t sure why Cheney decided to challenge Enzi, but said she might end up picking up some grudges for doing so.
“I don’t think it probably will be helpful in the long run. I’m pretty sure Senator Enzi will be able to hold off against any primary challenge,” Paul said. “In doing so there will be some people that won’t be so happy with the primary challenge, that might bear grudges.” Cheney, 46, is the daughter of former vice president Dick Cheney and launched her campaign Tuesday with a video calling for a “new generation of leaders to step up to the plate.”
Although she has deep pockets, her lack of deep roots in the state might hurt her. Cheney spent time in Wyoming as a child, but hasn’t spent much time there since. She moved her family from Virginia to Jackson Hole last year.
Paul said it will be difficult for “someone new” to the state to create the same type of deep personal relationship Enzi has.
“Mike Enzi has probably been to every town in Wyoming.
He’s the kind of guy who spends the time to get to know people in a town of 600 people, he’s been there,” Paul said.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
Exactly! Enough is enough. I like Liz Cheney well enough. She is a hawk, but is also very Republican establishment and certainly suspect when it comes to social and economic conservatism. Most of all, she is a carpet bagger. She has never lived in Wyoming and should run for office from VA if she wants to be a Senator.
She doesn’t live in WY at all. She bought a vacation home in Jackson Hole for the sole purpose of running for office, She is trying to push Enzi out. When he refused she decided to run in the primary knowing darn well that the primary winner in the Republican race will be elected. She can then remain in her suburban DC northern VA home and also be a Senator.
Se could probably rent out her Jackson Hole condo 90% of the time as well since she will never be there.
I would also support Rand unless Cruz runs. Rand Paul is a fighter and he would do much good if POTUS. He is too isolationist for my taste, but that isn’t all that bad. Particularly if he slashed significant amounts of the Federal Government
If you honestly think a Democrat is going to beat any Republican, especially a Cheney....I have no words.
Do you live in Wyoming?
I do.
I just went back and checked Freudenthal’s election results.
He won his first (of two) terms as governor with 70% of the vote.
Actually, from what I heard, she and her husband have purchased a $1.9 million, log home in Wilson, WY, which is a bit northwest of Jackson proper.
Good. She could get a pretty penny renting that out. She certainly has no plans to live there as she is running for the Senate and planning on living in her FULL TIME VA home.
As long as Cheney was a representative from conservative Wyoming he steered clear of the CFR. After he became vice-president the first stop on his speaking schedule was in front of this group where he stated that now he could reveal his true affection for this NWO group.
“Do you live in Wyoming?...I do.”
To me, this makes it all the sillier. A Democrat is not going to beat a Cheney in Wyoming, especially in this political climate.
That sounds like RonPaul conspiracy mush.
You didn’t answer my question. You just repeat your unfounded, party-hack assertion.
I live in Wyoming. I know a little bit about the politics of the state. It is predominately Republican, but when the Republicans run a really poor candidate, there becomes an opportunity for the right Democrat to win elections. There are counties where, for historical reasons, Republicans aren’t seen in a favorable light (eg, Johnson County, owing to events in 1892). There have also been times when the political winds shifted and shifted hard for the Democrats - eg, the 1930’s.
The problem here is that Cheney knows NOTHING about the issues that are important in Wyoming elections. Cheney has made a name for herself on talking-head shows, yammering about this, that and some other national security or international issue. That’s nice, but that isn’t going to win any election in Wyoming. Most people in Wyoming aren’t going to be dazzled by a neo-con interventionist. People in Wyoming are old-school Republican - isolationist. As soon as she opens her yap claiming that we need to do “more” in the middle east than Obama is, the immediate reaction of most people in Wyoming will be “No, we need to do less.”
Next we have her decision to plop her pampered little buttocks down in Jackson, which is seen in the rest of Wyoming as the “cancer” infecting the state. She and her husband have more than sufficient money and a lack of prior property connections (ie, no family ranch or farm to “come back to”) that they could have purchased a home anywhere in the state. Where would have been a good place to buy and not be seen as a carpetbagger? Casper or Cheyenne. Casper would be the best place to locate, because for retail politics it is most central to Wyoming and she could drive to any corner of the state in less than a day, and has an airport where she could get flights out of the area.
Did she do that? No. She goes to the Jackson area. She not only goes to the Jackson area, she buys outside of Jackson, where the prices are even higher, and it is more remote to do retail politics from than Jackson. Message: She intends to run a completely remote-control campaign. Second message: She’s not “one of us.” She’s one of the hob-nobbing elites who fly into and out of Jackson, not bothering to drive through the rest of the state. She’s like a bunch of Republicans and Democrats who have tried to run campaigns from Jackson - and failed. NB - I’m on pretty firm ground on this. Other people with lots of money and big plans have tried to run for elections to state-wide or national offices out of Jackson. They almost all fail, regardless of party. The only one to succeed recently is our current governor, who could honestly claim “roots” to his grandfather’s ranching operation in the Jackson area, was born there and sold the ranch in 2003 for over $100 mil. Even with all that, it wasn’t a cake-walk for Mead, even with the amount of money he spent on the campaign. People in the rest of the state Do. Not. Like. People. From. Jackson.
I should also note that residency in Wyoming is a more complicated issue than in other states. She can’t even apply for a in-state hunting or fishing license yet. She’s not lived in the state long enough. And yet, she’s claiming she’s lived in the state long enough to run for Senate. People have already started noting this with rather acerbic wit: She can’t apply for an in-state tag, but she thinks she’s been in the state long enough to run for election.
Now, with all of that as background, we have a potential election where we have a sitting GOP senator who is pretty good on all the issues that matter to people in Wyoming vs. a DC socialite, neo-con and lawyer.
People in Wyoming prefer candidates who have some experience on them. Enzi has been a mayor (Gillette) and worked for the DOI on a coal advisory committee. Enzi knows coal, and coal is a Big Friggin’ Deal in Wyoming politics and economics. Cheney knows nothing about the coal business or the regulatory issues. Freudenthal also knows quite a lot about the importance of coal to Wyoming and the regulatory issues.
Freudenthal has quite a bit of experience on him, and was born in the same town (Thermopolis) as Enzi. He’s got a track record of financial conservatism, fighting the feds on the wolf issue, being a proponent for coal, CBM and oil development, recognizing the wind-power issue isn’t all it is cracked up to be, etc. Cheney has none of that.
And the Cheney name in Wyoming isn’t quite what you think it is. Especially as more and more comes out about the NSA’s eavesdropping on everyone, and Cheney’s involvement in starting that program rolling.
If Cheney beats Enzi in the primary (which I highly doubt), if Dave gets into the election, she’s toast.
Enzi may not be perfect, but there’s no reason for a carpetbagger to come in and primary him.
Interesting you would call me a Party hack.
Especially since I’ll be leaving the GOP if the House produces an Amnesty Bill.
Are you a Paul Forum dandy?
(you asked a question?)
Nope.
And, FWIW, I’m already one foot out the door on the immigration issue, as well as the other debacles of the GOP, especially the Ryan “budget plan” which has been complete BS since day 1.
I just don’t like Liz Cheney and her type - the neo-cons who keep us meddling in situations where there is no neat, clean solution, where we’re piling money and blood down rat holes, etc. She’s absolutely part of the GOP establishment in DC, including and especially her stint at the State Department, where it was her job to meddle in middle eastern affairs, including this idiotic push for “democracy,” which has only resulted in epic failure (see Egypt for an excellent example).
Well, we agree on the futility of democracy in the ME.
But, Enzi is the candidate that is garnering Party E support. Most notably from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and it’s Inside the Beltway chairman Moran.
SW?
Dick Cheney is the epitome of GOP-E.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.