Alex Roarty of National Journal tries to figure out why Liz Cheney didn't just run for Senate from Virginia, where she lived until recently -- and doesn't come up with much:
... Her reputation as a hawk and stalwart supporter of the military would appeal to [Virginia]'s significant population of veterans and its large defense industry, and her more-moderate positioning on divisive cultural topics such as gay marriage is tailor-made for swing voters in the Washington suburbs....Allow me to speculate.
Instead of trying to translate her anti-Obama message against a Republican, the message would make more sense against [Senator Mark] Warner, who has been a reliable ally of the Obama administration. Even if Warner looks unbeatable, Republicans could use a qualified candidate in Virginia....
But Cheney never seriously considered running in Virginia....
To be sure, Cheney would begin her hypothetical matchup with the state's former governor as the race's heavy underdog. A robust 61 percent of voters approve of the incumbent's job performance, according to a mid-July poll from Quinnipiac University....
But it's not as if her odds are much better against a popular Republican senator in Wyoming, either.... The Republican automated polling firm Harper Polling found the incumbent [Mike Enzi] leading Cheney 55 percent to 21 percent. There's no ideological divide for Cheney to exploit.... Enzi holds one of the most conservative voting records, according to National Journal's most recent vote ratings. And Cheney hasn't yet received the support from outside conservative groups that often comes with insurgent primary campaigns....
Liz Cheney, of course, is her father's most prominent apologist, and his biggest fan. What has Dick Cheney done with his life in the periods when he wasn't in Congress or serving a Republican president.
He was a CEO of a very large multinational company.
What do CEOs of very large multinational companies do to small, underfunded regional competitors?
They use money and influence to crush those competitors.
That's precisely what Liz Cheney -- plugged-in, nationally prominent, Northeast Corridor-based Liz Cheney -- decided she could do to local yokel Mike Enzi. (It's been reported that Papa Dick has "talked up his daughter's candidacy in meetings with wealthy Republican donors in New York.")
There are a few other things going on here -- Cheney's candidacy is meant to ensure that Enzi won't compromise with President Obama and the Democrats on anything between now and the 2014 primary, which Liz and her pals will regard as a win even if he defeats her -- but apart from that, this isn't a primary challenge.
It's an attempt at a hostile takeover.
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(National Journal story via Memeorandum.)
