For those who believe Washington needs a Cheney in a policymaking role again, I have good news. The New York Times reported over the weekend:
Liz Cheney, the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, has filed with the Federal Election Commission to run for Wyoming’s only House seat, a return to politics after her short-lived but much discussed bid for the Senate two years ago. […]Ms. Cheney now plans to run to replace Representative Cynthia M. Lummis, a four-term Republican who was a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. Ms. Lummis will retire at the end of the year. Ms. Cheney’s filing on Friday with the Federal Election Commission was first reported by The Associated Press.
It’s unclear what kind of resistance Cheney will face in a likely GOP primary — given Wyoming’s political leanings, the Republican nominee will be the heavy favorite to succeed Lummis in the House — but she’ll first have to repair some of the damage done during her cringe-worthy Senate campaign two years ago.
Cheney moved to Wyoming in 2013, and soon after launched a primary campaign against a popular Republican incumbent, Sen. Mike Enzi. She failed spectacularly. Over the course of a six-month campaign, Cheney’s notable accomplishments as a candidate were an unfortunate controversy over a fishing license and a family dispute over her opposition to her own sister’s right to get married.
She ultimately quit months before the primary, citing unspecified “health issues” with an unidentified member of her family. Perhaps Cheney’s 2016 bid will be a greater success?
The good news for the far-right media personality is that she has nowhere to go but up — and it’s hard to even imagine a campaign that isn’t at least marginally better than Cheney’s bid two years ago. In an added plus, this time, she’s not taking on a GOP incumbent for no apparent reason other than her own personal ambition.
But as we discussed two years ago, one of Cheney’s problems in her first attempt at public office is that she actually became less popular with Wyoming voters the more they got to know her. Cheney somehow managed to alienate the public, party insiders, former allies, and blood relatives, all at the same time.
In other words, as she tries again, Cheney starts off having to undo some of the damage she’s already done.
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Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."