Who wil replace Sen. Thomas?

Talk today around the office and over the airwaves centered around this question: who will the Republicans name to replace Sen. Craig Thomas? The Wyoming Republican Party has 15 days to forward three names to Democratic Gov. Dave Freudenthal. The Gov then has five days to choose a stand-in (until the 2008 elections) for Thomas, who died Monday from complications from acute myeloid leukemia.

Who’s being mentioned most often? Wyoming Secretary of State Max Maxfield, a staunch Republican but a guy who supports the arts and reads books. Rita Meyer, state auditor, who is an officer in the Wyoming Air National Guard. Rep. Colin Simpson of Cody, who served the most recent legislative term as majority floor leader. He’s a party stalwart, so I don’t know what to expect of him. On the plus side, he’s the son of former U.S. Sen. Al Simpson, an old-school moderate.

Those all seem to be halfway decent choices. They're more moderate than not, less likely to side with the right-wing fundamentalist wing of the Republican Party.

Others aren’t so good. Eli Bebout has been mentioned. Eli waged a dirty campaign against Freudenthal in the 2002 gubernatorial race – and lost. Wheatland’s Ray Hunkins was the GOP standard-bearer in 2006, and got walloped by Gov Dave.

Whatever happens, one of the above will no doubt get the nod and be the front-runner for the 2008 race to complete Sen. Thomas’s remaining four years. U.S. House Rep. Barbara Cubin might decide to run for the seat. That’s the rumor, anyway. She’s been unbeatable thus far, but she might bite off more than she can chew if she goes the Senate route.

The biggest challenge will be for the Wyoming Democratic Party. With all three congressional seats now up for grabs in 2008, the Dems have to field a superb slate of candidates. Gary Trauner had the best shot he’s ever going to have last year against Cubin. Maybe he’ll go toe-to-toe with Cubin for the Senate seat. Wouldn’t that be something?

NPR’s "Talk of the Nation" today featured some banter about Wyoming’s strange succession rules. When Governor Freudenthal chooses Thomas’s temporary replacement, he could be eyeing that person as his opponent in 2008 – if he decamps early from the governorship. Not too farfetched.