Wyoming's District 8: Land of the well-educated & politically active citizenry -- well-defended, too

Nifty profile of Lori Millin, our state rep from District 8, in the 10/6 wyofile. Cheyenne's Marguerite Herman wrote the story.

I live in District 8. Here's what Marguerite had to say about us:

District 8 is a compact, middle- and upper-middle-class area here in the Wyoming capital. Residents tend to be well educated and politically active. The district includes many state employees and professionals, with a voter turnout of 90 percent. Republicans hold a substantial numbers advantage -- 2,511 registered Republicans compared to 1,563 Democrats, 505 unaffiliated and 10 Libertarians.

Democratic Gov. Dave Freudenthal carried the district in 2006, the same year that Millin beat Republican physician Larry Meuli by nine votes. Meuli won a three-way primary battle in 2004 by 31 votes. Elections in this district are close.

Chris and I make up .13 percent of the district's registered Democrats. Dr. Meuli came by the house in 2004 and we had a nice chat. He was opposed by Dem Joe Barrett in that general election, and won by 94 votes, a veritable landslide in our district.

But, I have no qualms in casting votes for Repubs in local elections. I'm also thinking of voting for the Republican, Rick Kaysen, in our non-partisan mayoral election. Democrat Jayne Mockler is running against him. I like them both, but Kaysen seems to have the edge on experience as the former head of Cheyenne Light, Fuel & Power. One of my neighbors, Joe Dougherty, didn't make the cut in the mayoral primary. We have political candidates coming out of our ears around here.

Lori Millin worked extremely hard in 2006 to win her seat. She's working equally hard this time to beat the Repub candidate, attorney Bob Nicholas. He's been in politics more than 20 years and comes from a prominent Repub family -- his uncle Phil is the Republican chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. Yet, Nicholas is advertising himself as the underdog. He said this in the wyofile story: "I'm sure Lori is outspending me 10-to-1." Sounds a little odd to hear a Wyoming Republican plead poverty. It's possible that District 8 voters will go ga-ga for this poor underdog lawyer. Not that Lori is without means and connections. She's married to John Millin, the Cheyenne opthomologist who's also the head of the Wyoming Democratic Party. As Marguerite writes: "This year, the District 8 race could be seen as a political party showdown."

One other thing about the district. We're well-defended. The district includes the Wyoming Army Guard HQ, surrounds the Wyoming Air Guard Base, and butts up against Warren A.F.B., home of many pointy-headed nuclear (pronounced new-klee-ur) missiles. If provoked, we could bring to bear a lot of firepower. I'm just saying...

For a nice color map of the city's House and Senate districts, go to www.laramiecountyclerk.com/_pdfs/CityPrecinctDistrict08.pdf.

Don't try to go to Google earth and get any close-ups of the district. All you will get are shots that are at least three years old. Google Earth satellite close-ups reveal a dark blue 1968 VW bug parked in back of my house. That belonged to the house's previous owner. We moved here on New year's Eve of 2005. Do the math. As I said, we are strategically important here in the land of the well-educated and politically active.