And so our prize for splitting the GOP vote in the primaries last Fall. . . .

so that the candidate who likely would have acquired the lesser of the votes in a two candidate race, Liz Cheney, won in a contest that was a three way affair, is that we now are being gifted with two potential out of state candidates who seek to remove John Barasso.

This is because the message we seem to have sent, but which I'm sure we did not, is that Wyoming's political door is open to candidates whose connections with this state are thin.

Cheney, as you will recall, is really a Virginian. I think this was widely known here and nobody was really fooled except maybe for Liz Cheney, who made an effort to appear like the rest of us.  It's up to her now to make sure she represents us in the way that we want her to, but that's another story entirely.  She might, or she might not, but she's not dumb so we can hope that she'll have a short learning curve and do well.

Doing well otherwise, however, would mean that we not be repeatedly afflicted by the assumption that the door is open to imported candidates.

The ones we are getting now are interesting examples of this.  One has the backing, apparently, of Steve Bannon who has declared himself to be "at war" with the GOP Establishment. Bannon apparently believes that the Tea Party movement that contributed to Trump's election can be solidified by taking on members of the Congress in the GOP and replacing them with insurgents who share Bannon's view.

I doubt he's right.

At least I don't think he's right about Erik Prince, Blackwater founder and a resident of Virginia and the United Arab Emirates.  Apparently his family has a ranch in Wapati, but that hardly makes him a resident.  I just don't see it.  And I doubt his politics will sell well here.

I don't see it either for Foster Friess a wealthy Republican philanthropist who has a home in Jackson.  I don't know anything about him, but I just don't see it.  He's an interesting contrast to Prince, however.

Well, I suspect that this effort won't amount to much.  Indeed, I'd surprised if either one of these candidacies gets off the ground.

Still, interesting times . . . .with all that means.

One thing it apparently means is that Cheney will avoid commenting on this, while Enzi already has.  That's interesting in and of itself as Cheney must be sensitive to being an outsider and might feel a bit vulnerable.  I haven't heard of anyone stepping up to run against her, but you do have to wonder what might occur if somebody like Matt Mead decided to start looking for his next job, not that he'll really need to or want to take that one.

Another irony is that for people like me, who have never been very impressed with some of Barasso's stands, particularly his stand on public lands that was inserted into the GOP platform, we now find ourselves really rooting for Barasso against potential challengers of the Bannon type.  Prince can, at least in my view, go home. . . and that home isn't Wapati.