Sources confirm Cubin (R-WY) won't run again

Source: Casper Star-Tribune

U.S. Representative Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo., will not run for re-election in 2008, Republican sources confirmed to the Star-Tribune this afternoon.
. . .

With Cubin's expected departure, the race for Wyoming's lone U.S. House seat will be wide open.

Three Republicans have already announced they will run, including retired naval officer Bill Winney who challenged Cubin last year and earned 40 percent of the vote in the primary. The other Republicans are Cheyenne substitute teacher Swede Nelson and Casper social worker Kenn Gilchrist.

. . .

Last year, Cubin barely survived a challenge from Democrat Gary Trauner, who announced a few weeks ago that he will run again.



Read more: http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2007/11/09/special_breaking_news/doc4734d2cbd128e963877922.txt

:woohoo:

I just read the DailyKos blog on this here and I can not believe how cold hearted she is. She actually did this:


Horrible, horrible person. Good riddance to her.

Sonia

lol

Cheney was elected to Wyoming's Congressional seat (at <500,000 people Wyoming only merit's a sole House seat) in 1978 when the last Democrat to hold that seat, Tino Roncolio retired that year.

Cheney was re-elected in 1980, 1982, 1984, 1986 and 1988. After the 1988 election, he was elected as Minority Whip. However, in March (?) 1989, when the Senate rejected President George H.W. Bush's nominee for Defense Secretary, former Senator John Tower, Bush appointed Cheney to the position and he was then confirmed. After his elevation as Defense Secretary, the Republican Congressional Caucus elected Newt Gingrich as the new Minority Whip, which he would hold until his own elevation to Speaker of the House on January 4, 1995.

After Cheney vacated the House seat, then-state Rep. Craig Thomas (R) was elected as his replacement. Thomas himself was re-elected in 1990 and 1992. In 1994, he was elected to the Senate as the incumbent Senator Malcolm Wallop (R) decided to retire. Thomas was re-elected in 2000 and 2006 and died earlier this year.

Cubin was elected to the open seat left open by Thomas in 1994 and re-elected in 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2002 and 2006. While until 2006, her general election contests were, well, no contest, she always performed relatively poorly in some of her primary contests in under-funded, little-known opponents.

http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/phylloxera :rofl:

Are we really on for the rapture?

This news is not the least bit unexpected. She has a husband in very poor health and herself suffered a heart attack a few years ago.

That said, this news is not good news for our side. Wyoming is a rather conservative state so our chance to pick it off now is actually reduced. A lot of people voted against her because they quite frankly dislike her. The fact that she scored around 55% against a primary challenger that was basically unknown attests to that.

Of course, IF Trauner has won last year, he could/would be in a decent chance for re-election after having had a chance to prove himself, and in fact, become rather popular to boot. Gov. Freudenthal won in 2002 against an asshole opponent but quickly proved himself and become popular despite the strong GOP lean.

However, with Ms. Not-So-Beloved out of the picture, his odds of winning actually DECREASE. This is, historically, a somewhat rare occurrence. There are examples where districts with a strong partisan lean one way will vote for an incumbent from the opposing party due to incumbency and personal popularity. There are only two districts that I can think of where this same phenomenon is currently present. These are CA-03 where John Doolittle is caught deep in the Abramoff scandal. The district is strong GOP. However, with the scandal and public backlash, his re-election campaign gives the Dems a good chance. If he retires or loses the primary, the Dems chances actually decrease.

The other district is, unfortunately, one of ours. This is IN-07, held by Julia Carson. She has suffered a multitude of health problems over the years and is currently undergoing inpatient treatment. She has missed most House votes and last year came close to losing to a little-known, under-funded repuke. If she retired, the chances of us losing the seat becomes minimal.