Free Republic

CHEYENNE -- Democratic newcomer Gary Trauner decided Thursday not to seek a recount in his narrow loss to Republican Rep. Barbara Cubin in Wyoming's closest U.S. House race in 36 years. "It is time to put this election to rest and look to the future," Trauner said in a statement released through his campaign. "Wyoming is counting on Mrs. Cubin to provide first-rate representation for all the people of the state, and I trust she will do so." In a telephone interview, Trauner said he had not talked to Cubin and wasn't sure if he would. "That's something I will...

Republican Rep. Barbara Cubin is a known commodity in Wyoming, which has fewer people than any other state and an electorate in which Republican registrants outnumber Democrats by a 2-to-1 ratio. Yet Cubin — who first won for Congress in 1994 — is not the most popular Republican to have held Wyoming’s only House seat, which previously was held by current two-term Sen. Craig Thomas and incumbent Vice President Dick Cheney. While the GOP ticket of President Bush and Cheney was sopping up 69 percent of the Wyoming vote in 2004, Cubin was elected to a seventh term with 55...