Liz Cheney Could Incite GOP Civil War With Senate Run

She wants Mike Enzi's seat—so does he
By Ruth Brown,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 7, 2013 1:51 PM CDT
Liz Cheney Could Cause GOP Civil War with Senate Run
Liz Cheney.   (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

Liz "Daughter of Dick" Cheney's political ambitions have been well known for some time, but some in the party believe her designs on running for a Senate seat in Wyoming in 2014 are a bit premature, the New York Times reports. That's because the seat she wants is already held by Republican Mike Enzi, 69, who isn't ready to retire. It would be "the destruction of the Republican Party of Wyoming if she decides to run and he runs, too," says a former Republican senator from the state. "It's a disaster—a divisive, ugly situation—and all it does is open the door for the Democrats for 20 years." Party members don't want to have to choose: Enzi is a hard-working, well-liked incumbent, and Cheney is, well, a Cheney. To make things more awkward? Enzi is an old friend of Dick's.

Enzi says Cheney, 46, informed him this year that she was thinking of running for his seat—though she didn't ask him if he wanted to run again. She hasn't made any public criticism of him yet, though he thinks that when she does, it will be for supporting the Internet sales tax, and being willing to work with the Democrats—whereas Cheney once called Obama "the most radical man ever to occupy the Oval Office." Enzi is also in his third term—as long as any Wyoming senator has served in recent history. Also working in Cheney's favor is the support of her father. Enzi says he hasn't heard from his old fly-fishing pal Dick recently. (More Liz Cheney stories.)

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