When I first heard that Liz Cheney was running for Senate in Wyoming, I shuddered a bit. Having the spawn of our ex-Vice President Skeletor in the United States Senate or anywhere close to the reins of power brought a chill to the old oxipetal. If, in France, one egg is un oeuf and according to that old 80s sitcom, Eight Is Enough, then one Cheney is more than enough.
The general weirdness of this decision quickly became apparent. Was Liz Cheney running as a Democrat in deep red Wyoming? No. Instead, she was launching a primary challenge to entrenched Republican Senator Mike Enzi. I think at last count (just after the dust had settled from her very public spat with her sister of her position on gay marriage) she was a whopping 52 points down to Enzi with Election Day creeping closer by the second.
I don't get it. If Enzi was vulnerable or if there was an opening, I could see it making sense. After all, the Cheney name is well known in Wyoming (Dad was the state's House Member for ten years before moving onto be Secretary of Defense and then assuming his position as Vice President Skeletor in Bush The Younger's administration) and she could probably rely on a hefty chunk of money from that.
But that's not that case: Enzi's a 16 year veteran of the United States Senate and the way the system is set up (one of the many drawbacks to our system) the incumbency advantage is huge! So why do it? What possible point could you be trying to make? (And to top it all off, she only moved back to Wyoming in 2012.)
To be totally fair to her, she's got a decent resume with a few decent mid-level assistant deputy secretary-ships in the State Department, work on three Republican Presidential campaigns and a stint on Fox News. So she's got plenty of experience in Washington that she can bring to the table. But I just can't get away from what a crazy-ass, Charge of the Light Brigade type of a move this is. I know the Cheney name is well known and carries weight in Wyoming (and to be sure, I asked Mother Kiwi when she was out here for Thanksgiving with the rest of the Kiwi Clan) but using it to underpin a primary challenge on a very, very safe Republican Senate Seat? Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think it'd be enough. If you were a Kennedy from Massachusetts maybe- but that assumes you don't already have the Senate seat to begin with, you know?
I also think her gay marriage flap with her sister was a stupid move as well. If you're 52 points down, you need something to convince the voters that you're the real deal. Barring Enzi getting a head injury and switching parties, you've got to provide contrasts somehow. And whether she meant it to or not, the now lamentably public family pissing match makes it look like she threw her sister under the bus to try and outflank Enzi on the right. I would have come out swinging in the other direction and said yes, I'm in favor of marriage equality- if my sister has a right to marry so should everyone else. In Wyoming, I'm damn sure people would have disagreed with her on that- but there's an outside chance that they would have respected the fact that she has the courage of her convictions a little more.
I keep thinking that I'm missing something here, some nuance or dirty little secret that will explain it all- but either way, it doesn't strike me as smart politics for the GOPers. If you must eat your young and primary a sitting member of your own party, you need a better reason than 'oh, my Dad used to be Vice-President and I just sort of feel like it.'
Either way, it's one of the more fascinating stories of the 2014 election cycle. (Speaking of which, I feel the familiar itch starting: might be time to start my usual biennial/quadrennial marathon of The West Wing.)
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