Flashback: Will 2016 Wyoming Democratic Party caucus crowds be as large as they were in 2008?

I have a decade-long history on Blogger. This can be a bad thing, as I can still see some of my more embarrassing writing and photographic moments. It's also a good thing, as I can trace my political happenings going all the way back to 2006.

The Wyoming Democratic Party held its 2008 caucus on March 8. Sen. Obama and Sen. and former Pres. Clinton both visited the state in the days before the caucus. People were excited. People were motivated. More than 1,500 Laramie County Democrats came out to caucus at the Civic Center in Cheyenne. That's approximately 1,300 more than came out to caucus in 2004. It was a banner year for Democrats, and it got attention outside the state. I'm a party member and I was on-hand to cast my vote, lobby for a spot at the state convention and volunteer to assist the madding crowds. Youi can read my report on the day at http://hummingbirdminds.blogspot.com/2008/03/historic-day-for-wyoming-democrats.html.

Turnout for the 2012 caucuses was anemic. This year, Dems again expect big crowds, one of the reasons that the caucus venue has been changed from downtown's Historic Plains Hotel to the gym at Central High School. Local Bernie Sanders supporters have been very active for about six months thanks to efforts by my neighbor Ed Waddell and his fellow Berniecrats. I expect many Sanders supporters will turn up to vote. Hillary Clinton supporters are equally active, canvassing and calling and talking up the former Secretary of State and First Lady.

Here are the details for the upcoming April 9 caucus:

The caucus and presidential preference vote will be held at the Cheyenne Central High School Field House Gymnasium, 5500 Education Drive on April 9, 11 a.m. Immediately following the morning’s caucus, convention activities will resume at the Plains Hotel, 1600 Central Avenue. We will be discussing the changes and volunteer opportunities for the convention. Check out the Laramie County Democratic Party’s frequently asked caucus questions at http://www.wyodems.org/frequently-asked-questions  

Get more info by attending the LCD’s monthly meeting on Monday, March 21, 6:30 p.m., at the IBEW Hall, 810 Fremont Ave., Cheyenne.

If 2008 provides any lessons for 2016, I urge you to arrive early. In 2008, I arrived at 7:30 a.m. and 100 voters already were in line. Some 1,400 folks lined up behind me, with the line snaking around the Civic Center. Great to see so many Wyoming Democrats all in one place. Let's do it again!

Tim Kaine in Jackson: "Come engage in a real dialogue with a member of the U.S. Senate"

Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia may be running for president in 2016 -- but who isn't? Hanging out with a Virginia Democrat will be a darn sight more illuminating that going to Glenrock to hear our own Sen. Enzi, who wants to shut down the gubment due to the fact that America picked Obamacare over Enzicare. One reason for Kaine's trip is to meet some Liberal high-rollers spending the last weeks of summer at their mountainside vacation homes. But one must go where the dough is. And who knows -- maybe newbie Jackson resident Liz Cheney will stop by for some campaigning tips.

Sen. Enzi seeks out liberal bastions in Wyoming during August listening tour

Nancy S at Veterans for Peace Wyoming Chapter 65 has been paying attention to Sen. Enzi's listening tour schedule during the Congressional recess. Note that Sen. Enzi will be listening at all of these liberal bastions in WYO:

Wednesday August 14th, Glenrock: Senator Enzi will be in town for an hour, tell him what for.  2:30 PM, Senior Center, 615 W. Deer St.   Info:  www.enzi.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2013/8/enzi-announces-august-listening-sessions.  Free. 
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Friday August 16th, Buffalo: Senator Enzi will be in town for an hour, tell him what for.  10 AM, Public Library, 171 N. Adams Ave.  Info:  www.enzi.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2013/8/enzi-announces-august-listening-sessions.  Free. 
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Thursday August 22nd, Worland: Senator Enzi will be in town for an hour, tell him what for.  1:30 PM, Museum & Cultural Center, 2200 Big Horn Ave.  Info:  www.enzi.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2013/8/enzi-announces-august-listening-sessions.  Free. 
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Thursday August 22nd, Greybull: Senator Enzi will be in town for an hour, tell him what for.  4 PM, Community Hall, 527 1st Ave. South.  Info:  www.enzi.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2013/8/enzi-announces-august-listening-sessions.  Free.

P.S.: The counties -- Big Horn, Converse, Johnson and Washakie -- that house the above-mentioned towns cast an average 80% of their votes for Mitt Romney (remember him?) in the 2012 presidential elections. Some guy named Obama got most of the remainder. Wonder what happened to him....

Republicans agree on one thing -- denying health care to our neighbors

Including thousands of our friends and neighbors in Wyoming. Read more about Pres. Obama's Friday press conference at  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/09/obama-obamacare_n_3733933.html

New vid from Wyoming Democrats: "Wyoming GOP Too Extreme"

Let's help "The Equality State" live up to its name

Wyoming Equality issued a press release as soon as the Supreme Court rulings hit the news today. While Wyoming, "The Equality State," the big square state with the most lopsided legislature in the USA, may be one of the last to legislate in favor of marriage equality, there are all sorts of possible strategies to move the process along. WE Chairman Jeran Artery did a good job of outlining some of those in today's press release. I particularly liked his summation:

Today’s victory adds momentum to the work to win marriage equality in Wyoming, which will continue through legislative action and litigation, where necessary. We will continue to work with national organizations such as Freedom to Marry, HRC, National Center for Lesbian Rights, PFLAG, Gill Action and others until Wyoming lives up to her name as “The Equality State.”

Repeat after me: "The Equality State." Let's make that moniker a reality.

TLC BLue -- tender loving care mixed with a quick kick in the pants

Laramie County Democrats during a lull at Super Day Saturday in Cheyenne's Lions Park. We think the guy on the left is an NSA spy. Does he look familiar to you?

Turn Laramie County Blue?

That's the motto of the new fund-raising/visibilty program by the Laramie County Democratic Party. TLC Blue -- I like the looks of that. Could be translated as Tender Loving Care Blue. You know, TLC like Mom used to administer. My Mom was a nurse, so she was pretty good at TLC. But as a mother and a nurse, she sometimes had to administer a quick kick in the pants when the gentle approach just wasn't working.

Democrats have been pretty good at the gentle approach. We are reasonable people, right? We expect our opposition to be reasonable too.

LOL. I don't use that term very often but it's appropriate in this case. As we have seen, our opposition is often impervious to our rational approach. As Dems, we are outnumbered by Repubs. Some of them are moderates, but increasingly they are trumped by Tea Partiers and Hopelessly Fundamentalist Christians, although my blogging pal Rodger McDaniel reefers to the latter group as "Radical Christians" (for a definition, read his blog post from Saturday). 

We have had some success in forming coalitions with moderate Republicans. Witness the vote in last year's Legislature over civil unions. It didn't pass, but there were a number of "R" votes that hadn't been there before.

Some of our Blue lobbyists urge us to take it easy on moderates such as Cale Case, Sue Wallis and Dan Zwonitzer. So we do. Problem is, they often turn around the next day and vote for anti-worker legislation, or laws that strengthen the stranglehold that energy corporations have over environmental policy in Wyoming. In the end, it would be much better to have a bloc of Dems in the House and the Senate that could administer some TLC and a quick kick in the pants when that didn't work.

But we don't.

And moderate Republicans, especially those in rural enclaves, can be vulnerable to attacks by Tea Partiers and Radical Christians. Hank Coe of Cody could never be labeled a Liberal, but his role as power broker in the "Hill Bill" makes him a target of Park County ultra-rightists.

There are 11,215 Democrats in Laramie County, which makes it the county with the most Dems in the state, We keep adding to those numbers, although we're still outnumbered by Republicans. We're the most urban of the state's counties, with one-sixth of the population. This drives rural Republicans crazy, as the more urban a place becomes, the more Democrats there are. Maybe that's why they refer to Cheyenne as North Denver or a suburb of Fort Collins. I'm a Denver native who went to grad school in Fort Collins, so I know that Cheyenne is neither of those places. It has its own personality and its own destiny. 

But enough of my rambling. Let's hear from the chairman of the Laramie County Democrats, Vincent Rousseau. Vince was a plumber but has returned to college to retool for a new career in civil engineering. Here's some content from his recent letter about TLC Blue:

With my election to Chair of the Laramie County Democratic Party, I have accepted the critical challenge of increasing the number of Democrats holding office in our county. I am sure you understand, that the majority of positions held by the opposition party, all but guarantees that our values as Democrats, our ideals, our compassion for workers and those who struggle to make ends meet are not being represented by our state and local government. Changing this lack of representation is why we work so hard!

The recurring donation program "Turn Laramie County Blue" will raise vital funds for the Laramie County Democratic Party. TLC Blue will provide support to candidates and Democratic incumbents need to attain and hold public office, the kind of support that the hard work we all do, can't alone provide. Your donation of $10, $20, or $30 a month gives the Laramie County Democratic Party the opportunity to provide help with volunteer recruitment and training, mailings, printing, any number of the million tasks that are necessary for a successful campaign.

We have a large fundraising goal, for "TLC Blue". I have set myself a personal fundraising target of $15,000 by  December of 2014. I need your help in reaching this target. Your donation of $10 a month, will not only help with monthly operating expenses, but can help to mail 250 postcards or 75 letters for a campaign. Your donation of $20 a month will help buy yard-signs, and $30 a month goes a long ways towards radio and billboard spots.

There's more, but you get the picture. I will be spending the day pondering how much money and time I can give to the cause. Take time out to do some of your own pondering. For more info, call the Laramie County Democrats at 307-509-0504. We have some interesting conversations over on Facebook. Also check out the Laramie County Democrats Grassroots Coalition.

Republicans say it loud and scary: BENGHAZI!

As a fiction writer, I enjoy e-mails from Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis. The Republican from Cheyenne never ceases to amaze with her fabrications and half-truths and spin -- can't forget the spin. As a member in good standing of the Republican cabal in the House that gives gridlock new meaning, she can be trusted to always be on the FAR RIGHT side of each issue. This time, she is even asking questions at one of the many hearings that House Republicans are holding on BENGHAZI! I capitalize and emphasize the Libyan city's name because that's how the Republicans do it. BENGHAZI! Or like this: 

BENGHAZI!

It was funny to read today that 39 percent of those Americans polled who believe, as does Rep. Lummis, that BENGHAZI is a cover-up, don't know what country it's in. From Public Policy Polling's latest national survey (thanks to Crooks & Liars):

"One interesting thing about the voters who think Benghazi is the biggest political scandal in American history is that 39% of them don't actually know where it is. 10% think it's in Egypt, 9% in Iran, 6% in Cuba, 5% in Syria, 4% in Iraq, and 1% each in North Korea and Liberia with 4% not willing to venture a guess."

BENGHAZI!

Wherever the hell it is.  

Oogalee Boogalee! Are you scared now?

Here's Rep. Lummis's e-mail (the links are hers):

Dear Friends, This past Wednesday the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee heard from three men, all of whom are public servants and all of whom have firsthand experience with the Benghazi attacks of September 11th, 2012 that claimed the lives of four Americans.

From the testimony we heard it’s clear there was a conscious effort to provide misleading and conflicting information on the Benghazi attacks. The question now is how far up in the administration did this cover up go?

People died. There are four deaths. Concealing the facts and impeding efforts on behalf of Congress to investigate this situation is simply deplorable.

Wednesday’s witnesses had illustrious careers. But when they had the gumption to correct the inaccuracies being spread about this attack some of their careers became fodder for revenge. It is inexcusable what this administration has done to these citizens, particularly in light of what these men have done for our country.

I walked away from this week’s hearing with more questions, more rabbit holes and without concrete answers for the families of these victims. Clearly it was the tip of the iceberg, but I’m glad to hear truth being shed on this unfortunate situation. The Committee will continue our investigation until concrete answers can be delivered.

I want to thank witnesses Gregory Hicks, Mark Thompson and Eric Nordstrom, for having the courage and strength to come forward and set the record straight on these horrific attacks.

Watch my questions HERE.

Sincerely, Representative Cynthia M. Lummis 

Interesting to note that Republicans in the House have yet to convene numerous committees to investigate how George W. Bush and Dick Cheney lied us into the Iraq War. Or the many diplomats and embassy staffers who were killed during the Bush presidency. After all, PEOPLE DIED!

Wyoming GOPers get ready to rumble in 2014

Today's Casper Star-Tribune lead editorial carried news of a brewing Republican rumble.

The Wyoming GOP Central Committee recently approved a resolution to repeal Senate File 104 -- the so-called "Hill Bill." SF 104 stripped State Superintendent of Public Instruction Cindy Hill of most of her superintendent duties. She and her minions were unceremoniously moved from her suite at the Hathaway Building to a bunker in an undisclosed location. Hill only has a few duties left in her job description. Those include roles as the state graham-cracker-and-milk monitor and manager of arithmetic flash cards.

Republicans are miffed. Thing is, SF 104 was a Republican-generated bill. The Central Committee is the steering mechanism for the WY GOP. It appears that the CC was egged on by the Constitution Party and Tea Party members in its ranks. So one core group of Repubs was responsible for the bill that removed Hill, and another core group of Repubs want to repeal said bill.

To make matters more complicated, Hill is suing Gov. Mead for signing off on the bill, and has announced she is running for governor in 2014.

This clash will further alienate Wyoming's usually sensible conservative majority. They may come out in droves to vote for Mead's reelection, or they may sit home in disgust. They may even vote for the Democratic Party candidate, as they often have in the past. Thanks to solid support by Democrats and a sizable bloc of moderate Republicans, I have spent more than half of my 22 years in Wyoming serving a Democrat in the State Capitol. They were Mike Sullivan and Dave Freudenthal. What Dem might run in 2014? Maybe Nancy Freudenthal could be tempted to give up her judge's robes for the many pairs of sensible shoes it takes to go door-to-door in a gubernatorial run. Probable not very likely. Who else is waiting in the wings?

Good question. The Dems have had a tough time fielding good candidates for Gov and other state elected offices. Laramie Democrat Mike Massie was the best candidate for the state superintendent's job in 2010. That was the year of the Tea Party's rise, when it was the kiss of death to have a "D" by your name on the ballot. About Hill, we can now say to Republicans: "We told you so."

We may take the same stance in 2014. How delicious it will be to sit on the sidelines and witness the GOP bloodletting. Problem is, it will be a huge embarrassment to the state. As the CST put it:

The answer will impact far more than education. The near future of the GOP in Wyoming, given the disparate percentage of Republicans here. will dictate the long-term fate of Wyoming.

Businesses are watching. Tourists are watching. Entrepreneurs are watching. The energy sector is watching.

Gov. Mead is a moderate on most things. Yes, he was part of the ridiculous  lawsuit over the Affordable Care Act, and he's stubbornly resisted Medicaid expansion. But he is a strong supporter of economic development in our communities and tourism. He knows that the state's future has more to do with high technology, education, entrepreneurs and creatives than it does with the extractive industries and whether or not a person can carry a gun into his favorite restaurant.

Sure it would be fun watch a GOP Battle Royal. But if you like this place and its people (as I do), you hope for something more civilized.