Wyoming Vote Tracker

Now this is what I call an announcement. Perhaps the Wilson Democrat should learn, seeing as he has competition now.

You might recall that about a month ago, I posted about Albert “Big Al” Hamburg making a bid for the Democrat nomination for President. Well, I’m not sure if that has gone by the wayside, because now Candidate Hamburg is taking a shot (again) at Wyoming’s lone U.S. House vote.

Perennial candidate Al Hamburg of Torrington is running this year as a Democrat for the U.S. House because he wants to talk about two big issues — illegal aliens and the war in Iraq.

Hamburg, a 75-year-old retired house painter and military veteran, said he likes Republican incumbent Barbara Cubin for her stand against illegal immigrants but faults her for her support of the war in Iraq.

“If Barbara Cubin came out against the war, I would probably vote for her,” Hamburg said Thursday in a telephone interview.

Hamburg will face Gary Trauner, a Teton County businessman, in the Democratic primary election.

Trauner is the only other Democrat to announce for Cubin’s seat.

“Gary Trauner’s got a lot of money to run,” Hamburg said. “But what issues is he gong to talk about? At least I’m going to talk about the issues.“

And Al Hamburg comes out swinging! Apparently, he thinks that Trauner’s campaign will be all about “I knocked on 15,000 doors,” “I hate negativity,” “I came close in 2006,” and now the Nazi helmet campaign picture.

Ahh, yes, Gary Trauner thought he had a free ride through the primaries and now he actually has to campaign against someone that is in his own party.

Of course the article gets more interesting:

In a letter announcing his candidacy for Wyoming’s only seat in Congress, he wrote, “Wyoming people could all have free health care from a health care severance tax on coal plus a mineral severance tax rebate like Alaska gives each citizen each year,” Hamburg said.

Kenn Gilchrist of Casper has announced he’s running for the Republican ticket in the race. Cubin has not officially announced her plans to seek a seventh term in 2008.

Hamburg last ran for the U.S. House as a Democrat in 2004. He received 9 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary.

In 2006 he ran as a Democrat for governor and also for the U.S. Senate in Nebraska.

He has also campaigned as a Republican, an independent and as a member of the New Alliance Party in the late 1980s. In 1984, he signed up his dog, Woofer D. Coyote, to run for president and was a presidential candidate himself in 2000.

In 1990, Hamburg was convicted of two felony counts after he forged signatures to get on a special election ballot to replace U.S. Rep. Dick Cheney, who had been appointed secretary of defense.

Wow. Hamburg wants a form of socialized healthcare and he still likes Rep. Cubin with the exception of Iraq!

I’m still not sure about this. I’ve heard that Gilchrist is running Independent. However, CST keeps reporting he is running Republican. On top of that, how did CST overlook the more known candidacy of Swede Nelson?

Anyway, to ease your curiosity, Hamburg’s electoral issues of the past only bar his service on the state level.

Technorati Tags: Al Hamburg, Gary Trauner, Wyoming Democrat U.S. House race, election 2008

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