Liz Cheney Senate bid off to a rocky start
Liz Cheney鈥檚 bid to win a US Senate seat from Wyoming in 2014 does not appear to be off to a smooth start.
Ms. Cheney, daughter of ex-Vice President Dick Cheney, announced in July that she鈥檚 mounting a primary challenge to incumbent GOP Sen. Mike Enzi. Senator Enzi is pretty conservative 鈥� Wyoming is a pretty conservative state 鈥� but Cheney is positioning herself as the more conservative, more energetic Republican alternative.
You can see this on her website homepage, which pushes her as a 鈥渟trong voice for Wyoming鈥� (so Enzi isn鈥檛 one?) and prominently features an endorsement from Rush Limbaugh.
鈥淲e need about 95 more of you,鈥� El Rushbo says of Cheney.
Cheney鈥檚 problem is that she鈥檚 hitting speed bumps of her own making. Or something like that.
Take the fishing license snafu. In August, the that Cheney had improperly received a state resident fishing license. To be eligible for the cheaper resident license rate, an applicant must have lived in the Cowboy State for a year. At the time, Cheney had been a Wyoming resident for 72 days. Her application said she鈥檇 lived there for a decade.
Cheney said the clerk who took her application must have made a mistake.
Fast forward to this week. Cheney鈥檚 hometown paper, the Jackson Hole News&Guide, recently wrote that Cheney posted a $220 bond for the 鈥渉igh misdemeanor鈥� of swearing a false oath to obtain that troublesome license.
Cheney was not pleased. of Jackson tea party backers, she blamed the News&Guide editor by name, said 鈥渘ewspapers are dying, and that鈥檚 not a bad thing,鈥� and urged supporters to avoid news accounts and to spread the word about her candidacy by themselves.
She has followed this up with a Facebook post rallying supporters against the 鈥渆stablishment mainstream media.鈥�
We get that she鈥檚 not happy with her coverage. And on Facebook she did commend some 鈥渉ardworking鈥� Wyoming reporters. But by going Vesuvius on the state outlets that have covered Licensegate, she is taking on other Wyoming journalists who will be covering her every move for months to come. Rachel Maddow they鈥檙e not.
Plus, she鈥檚 keeping the fishing license story alive. It might have been better for her to downplay it as a paperwork error of unknown origin and move on.
Then there鈥檚 the way she riled her own sister.
On Friday Cheney issued a statement saying she is 鈥渘ot pro-gay marriage.鈥� She needed to announce this publicly, she said, because the Enzi campaign was conducting a 鈥減ush poll鈥� that was asking voters if they were aware Liz Cheney 鈥渁ggressively promotes gay marriage.鈥�
Cheney鈥檚 sister, Mary, is gay, and married her partner in 2012. Dick Cheney has said he supports same-sex marriage. Because Wyoming is a conservative state, Liz Cheney must have known she was going to have deal with this issue in some manner. But her abrupt statement did not sit well with Mary, who posted on Facebook that she loves Liz but that she鈥檚 鈥渄ead wrong鈥� on gay marriage.
Perhaps worse for Cheney, Enzi denied the 鈥減ush poll鈥� charge, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is supporting Enzi, took a swing at her.
鈥淲ith all due respect, it looks like Liz Cheney is fishing without a license again,鈥� .
Cheney has months to overcome these stumbles, of course. The 2014 primary campaign has barely started. She鈥檒l have lots of money and name recognition in a state that still reveres her dad.
But early polls aren鈥檛 good. A from Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling put her behind Enzi, 54 percent to 26 percent. Half of those polled said they did not believe Cheney to be a Wyomingite.
A from GOP-leaning Harper Polling found similar results, with Enzi in the lead by 55 percent to 21 percent.
