Will Liz Cheney Destroy the Wyoming Republican Party?

Former Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter Liz Cheney has announced her bid for the US Senate to represent her home state of Wyoming. As a result, Fox News terminated her position as a political analyst, a position she has held since January 2012. Rather than shady shenanigans, however, the reason for her termination was to avoid a conflict-of-interest, and the practice of terminating contracts when political analysts announce candidacy for office is used by most cable news networks. Cheney will be running against Republican Senator Mike Enzi for the seat, who announced his candidacy on Tuesday afternoon. 

Enzi is against all forms of abortion, voted for measures to ban gay marriage and flag desecration, is a strong supporter of gun rights, supports partial privatization of Social Security and has voted against expanding Medicare. He takes a hard view on immigration, has voted to uphold the PATRIOT Act, and opposed any reduction in wiretapping and extending rights to Guantanamo Bay detainees.

To compare, Cheney co-founded the non-profit group Keep America Safe which supports keeping Guantanamo open, called DOJ attorneys terrorist sympathizers for defending Gitmo detainees, supports gay marriage and the repeal of DADT, defended Halliburton, and has a track record of lying or distorting the facts when discussing the Obama and Bush administrations such as claiming that Obama has engaged in a "strategic retreat" from the war on terror.

According to former Republican Senator Alan K. Simpson in an interview last week, “[it will be] the destruction of the Republican Party of Wyoming if she decides to run and he runs, too. It’s a disaster — a divisive, ugly situation — and all it does is open the door for the Democrats for 20 years.”