Jackson Hole Underground

Some of the highlights from the 2008 Wyoming Democratic Convention:

• Willie Neal is going to Denver.
• Obama picked up two more delegates. Overall tally for Wyoming at this point: Obama 12, Hillary 5, Undecided 1.
• We persuaded Wyoming Democrats to unanimously endorse Wild and Scenic designation for the Snake River headwaters.
• Gary Trauner is a rock star.
• Gov Dave came out swinging.
• Brian Schweitzer wowed ‘em.

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AP photo. Click to enlarge.

Nearly five months ago, on a cold winter’s night in Iowa, and Jackson Hole, as I sat at my computer watching the election returns pour in from the country’s first Democratic caucus, I got the feeling something extraordinary was unfolding, the kind of moment in history that raises hairs on the back of your neck, like the protester stopping tanks in Tiananmen Square or the U.S. hockey team upsetting the Soviets.

Barack Obama had shocked the American political establishment, winning by a sound margin. One could sense that a movement was afoot, one that with ordinary people rolling up the sleeves to take back their government, actually could succeed.

Last night, I got that feeling again. Obama was back in Iowa as voters in Oregon gave him the overall majority of pledged delegates for the Democratic nomination. What had started as an improbable dream was just about coming to fruition.

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The Wicked Witch of the West is done.

More than a few glasses were clinked in celebration this weekend after U.S. Rep. Barbara Cubin announced that she will not seek re-election.

Thus ends a reign of error that began in 1994 and included such lowlights as:

• Endorsing the slaughter of bison in Yellowstone National Park

• Supporting a plan to sell off public lands to developers

• Calling the $425 billion national deficit a “bookkeeping problem”

• Blaming former President Bill Clinton for the 9/11 attacks

• And, of course, threatening to slap wheelchair-bound Libertarian Thomas Rankin following a 2006 debate

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