Liz Cheney hit by sister for opposing gay marriage. Will that matter in Wyoming?
Wyoming Senate candidate Liz Cheney on Sunday was sharply condemned for her opposition to gay marriage by her own sister, Mary Cheney.
Mary Cheney is gay. She and wife Heather Poe are raising two children.
鈥淟iz 鈥� this isn鈥檛 just an issue on which we disagree 鈥� you鈥檙e just wrong 鈥� and on the wrong side of history,鈥� wrote Mary Cheney on her
This intra-family spat was sparked by a comment that older sister Liz, who鈥檚 running for the GOP Senate nomination against incumbent Wyoming Sen. Mike Enzi, made earlier in the day on 鈥�Fox News 厂耻苍诲补测鈥�.
Asked by host Chris Wallace if she鈥檇 flip-flopped on gay rights, Liz Cheney said she hadn鈥檛. While she supports equal benefits for same-sex partnerships, she thinks it鈥檚 an issue best left to states to decide.
鈥淚 do believe in the traditional issue of marriage,鈥� she said.
This is what did not sit well with little sister Mary and Mary鈥檚 spouse Heather Poe, whose own Facebook comments were direct and personal.
鈥淟iz has been a guest in our home, has spent time and shared holidays with our children, and when Mary and I got married in 2012 鈥� she didn鈥檛 hesitate to tell us how happy she was for us,鈥� wrote Poe. 鈥淭o have her now say she doesn鈥檛 support our right to marry is offensive to say the least鈥�.
The context of this story is that on gay marriage Liz Cheney is caught between her family and the politics of Wyoming.
Wyoming is a conservative state. Sen. Enzi, the man Cheney wishes to unseat, is himself a gay marriage opponent. Plus, an outside money group that supports Enzi, the American Principles Fund, has been running ads that take not-too-subtle swipes at Cheney as soft when it comes to gay rights issues.
An ad titled 鈥淲rong for Wyoming," for instance, shows clips of Cheney appearing on the 鈥渓iberal elites鈥� channel MSNBC to discuss same-sex marriage. Cheney 鈥渟upports government benefits for gay couples鈥� says the spot.
Another, called 鈥淲yoming 海角大神鈥�, features conservative icon and former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee saying that Mike Enzi is a 鈥減rincipled conservative . . . who believes that a mom and dad can do a better job raising kids than a government ever can do鈥�.
On 鈥淔ox News Sunday鈥� Cheney complained about this tactic, saying 鈥淪enator Enzi鈥檚 friends and supporters are running a really scurrilous ad in Wyoming. And the senator has said many times that he doesn鈥檛 believe in gutter politics . . . I think he ought to renounce it,鈥� says said.
Cheney may be struggling to get traction against an incumbent who鈥檚 punching back pretty hard against her primary challenge. There鈥檚 little polling in the thinly populated state, but a July survey by the Democratic firm PPP found her 28 points behind Enzi. An internal poll conducted by the aforementioned American Principles Fund at the end of October put Enzi up by a whopping 52 points.
That should be taken with a heaping tablespoon of salt. But it鈥檚 probably safe to say that at this point, with a long way to go in the campaign, Cheney remains well behind the three-term incumbent.
