Saturday, June 09, 2007

"Big Al" for U.S. Senate seat

In today's Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, Editor Reed Eckhardt suggests that the Wyoming Republican Party promote the name of former U.S. Sen. Al Simpson to complete the rest of Sen. Craig Thomas's term.

Simpson is the most qualified Wyoming Republican for the job, notes Eckhardt, a veteran of 18 years of battles in the Senate. He also served on the Iraq Study Group, that august bipartisan group whose recommendations have been mostly ignored the Pres. Bush. He also has no interest in running in 2008. The can't say the same for the pack of Republicans currently on the unofficial list of replacements.

Mr. Eckhardt admits that Al Simpson is not his first choice, due to Big Al's "endless attacks on the media." But he also believes that these "appointments should be short-term, that they should not be used to set up the next election."

My opinion is that the former senator would be the best choice. This seems obvious, but Gov. Dave Freudenthal must beware of Republican tricks as he looks at the GOP list of possible replacements. I would think that certain names would be dead-on-arrival: Rep. Barbara Cubin and U.S. Second Lady Lynne Cheney. But the governor should look at the list and ask himself how damaging each of these people could be, not only to Wyoming but to the country and the world.

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