Wyoming Vote Tracker

Gov. Dave Freudenthal was among a group of Democrat governors that said nothing positive or negative about the presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain.

Democrat governors from various potential swing states in the upcoming presidential election were recently interviewed about the likely McCain vs. an as of yet unknown Democrat Presidential candidate.

Responses came from Arizona:

“To quote President Bush, McCain is never to be misunderestimated,” said Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona, McCain’s home state. “He’s a tough campaigner.”  […]
“If I’m the Republican nominee and I’m John McCain, I do not take those states for granted,” she said. “But it does change the strategy [for the Democrats].” She said the goal should be tying McCain closely to President Bush.

PA:

“He’s going to contest for those suburban voters that have been delivering Pennsylvania to Democratic presidential candidates for the last four elections,” Rendell said. “He will be the strongest Republican to contest for their votes. And he does it without sacrificing the ability to go after conservative, pro-life Democrats in the western part of the state.”

Michigan:

“He is appealing in Michigan,” said Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who supports Clinton. “He does appeal to independent thinkers — at least he did in the past — and we have a lot of those in Michigan. Whoever the Democrat is, Michigan is a state where we’re going to have to work.”  […]

“Michigan is not in favor of 100 years in Iraq,” she said, referring to McCain’s statement that a long-term commitment in Iraq — though not an all-out war — might be acceptable to help stabilize that country. “He’s got to be strong about not entering into new trade agreements that give away the store,” she continued. “On those two issues, I think he’s going to be vulnerable.”

Ohio:

“I think John McCain could have an appeal to a lot of Ohioans,” said Gov. Ted Strickland, a Clinton supporter. “I don’t think it’s a given that John McCain can’t win the election. I just think that, rightly or wrongly, he is perceived as a straight-talking, independent, honest person.” But if McCain appears to be pandering to his party’s conservative base, Strickland said, he might not do as well.

Maryland:

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Clinton supporter, said McCain’s biography, which includes more than five years in a North Vietnamese prison camp, makes him “a formidable challenge” in the fall campaign. “But I do think that the wave of change and the reaction to these last really disastrous years to our country under George W. Bush is going to be difficult for him to overcome.”

and Kansas:

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said a McCain-Obama race would provide “the absolute matchup that contrasts the past and the future.” Sebelius has endorsed Obama, and when asked how he would compare with McCain as a potential commander in chief in the eyes of voters, she pointed to the 1996 race between President Bill Clinton and former senator Robert J. Dole (R-Kan.).

Like O’Malley, she cited McCain’s personal story of courage and heroism but recalled that Dole, too, was a war hero with a powerful personal story but nonetheless lost his bid to “a young leader who had a different vision of America.”

I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. Wyoming does tend to go Republican in the Presidential race (though I’m not too sure  about that on this cycle), so we’re likely not favored to be a swing or even potential swing state. Then again, how much attention did we get on January 5 of this year for being the first state to award delegates?

Another reason why I’m not too surprised is that “Gov. Dave” hasn’t really been excited about the Presidential election cycle thus far. He’s trying to get out of going to Denver this August (but his wife and daughters got him straightened out on that) and the candidates have not spoken about Western issues that the Governor is concerned about.

Just the same, you would think that the esteemed Wyoming Governor would be something of a media darling like McCain. After all, he is a Democrat Governor in a fairly solid Republican state. Last summer he appointed a fairly conservative Republican from a list of fairly conservative Republicans  to fill a vacant US Senate seat left by the passing of a fairly conservative Republican. On top of that, the Governor seems to have about as much charisma as John McCain does.

But as I sit and think about this, the thought comes to mind that the Governor could be more concerned at the prospect of former State Treasurer and candidate for U.S. Senate Cynthia Lummis becoming the next U.S. Representative for Wyoming.

No Comments »