Gary Trauner in New West

Gary Trauner wrote a guest column in today's edition of New West. Entitled "Bucking Partisanship the Western Way," it's a plea for westerners to think deeply about knee-jerk political partisanship. Wyomingites, of course, have a long history of crossing party lines in elections. Trauner himself would never have come as close as he did to beating Barbara Cubin last November were it not for the thousands of Republicans who voted for him.

To illustrate his point, Trauner writes about a Republican Party leader whose house he visited during the campaign. She and Trauner had an open talk about the pluses and (mostly) minuses of partisanship. Said Trauner: "This story came to mind while reading a recent interview in Newsweek with Vice President Cheney. I was floored, but hardly surprised, by his quote in regard to a question about Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. The Vice President stated 'Let’s say I firmly believe in Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment: thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican.' Is it really true that we should refrain from holding people accountable or responsible simply because of the party label they have chosen for themselves? Should I have blindly supported Republicans Mark Foley (inappropriate behavior with minors) and Duke Cunningham (bribery) or Democrat William Jefferson (likely bribery, cash in freezer) just because they might have checked the same box I did when I registered to vote?"

Republicans, of course, can afford to be gracious about partisanship in a state such as WYO where they outnumber Democrats more than two-to-one. They run the State Legislature like their own private club. They caucus in private because they can, and they know that the outnumbered Dems can do nothing about it.

For Wyoming Democrats, bipartisanship is a given. They can't do a thing without "their friends on the other side of the aisle." Governor Freudenthal knows this, and is masterful about appealing to Republican voters. He knows that the best strategy in dealing with the Legislature is to come up with a few good ideas and make the Repubs think they thought of it.

Anyway, it's good to see Trauner resurface. He's kept a low profile since November, while bloggers speculate whether he'll take another swipe at Barbara Cubin in 2008 -- or maybe enter the U.S. Senate race against Republican Mike Enzi. I hope he stays visible and relevant.