Politics News | New West Network

Update from Obama/Clinton Wyoming Sweep

The Barack Obama campaign came to Casper this afternoon, before it heads to the University of Wyoming Arena-Auditorium for what is likely to be the biggest crowd of the day.

Obama’s performance in Casper, before a 1,500-person crowd, covered most of the bases of his standard campaign speech, but still elicited half a dozen standing ovations from an appreciative audience.

In a question and answer session, Senator Obama was asked “What hope can I take back” to the Wind River Reservation, by Lander resident Michelle Skinner. She said the reservation is plagued by poverty and the twin scourges of alcoholism and methamphetamine addiction.

“I’ve talked to tribal leaders all over America,” Obama said, noting that Native Americans faced deeply rooted problems that have emerged from a tragic past.   [more]

THE COWBOY STATE CAUCUSES SATURDAY

Normally, members of the Wyoming Democratic Party can grimly joke about holding party meetings in phone booths. Here, in the reddest of fire-engine-red Republican states, Democrats are still the minority party by a 2.3:1 ratio. But today, party officials and members are being courted by the Hillary Clinton and the Barack Obama campaigns, prior to Wyoming's Democratic caucuses on Saturday.

Although Wyoming has only 12 national delegates up for grabs, those dozen delegates are hyper-critical to both the Clinton and Obama campaigns that are running neck and neck for the party’s nomination.  [more]

A CONSERVATIONIST LOOKS BACK AT LOBOS

Twenty years ago, conservationist Whitney Tilt worked to build "a popular consensus" for bringing wolves back to the northern Rockies. Today, frustrated by squabbling amongst environmentalists and other groups, he believes it is important to take stock of how far the region has come with wolf recovery. He believes success and taking the animals off the federal protection list is a cause for celebration, not acrimony.  [more]

Introducing...

Driving past most any Western city these days is a little like watching those time-lapse films back in grade school. Empty fields become bulldozed lots become framed houses become finished homes with trucks in the driveway and new grass in the yard.

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GOVERNOR'S GROWTH CONFERENCE

Something highly unusual happened Thursday morning in Casper, where Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal convened his two-day “Building the Wyoming We Want” conference at Casper College.

No one was shot, tarred ‘n feathered or invited to attend a Western necktie party.

And numerous people -- including the governor -- repeatedly uttered that communistic word “zoning” without being struck by lightning.
  [more]

Old and Faithful Debate

The interior of Yellowstone National Park opens for the winter season today amid--surprise--much controversy surrounding the limits on snowmobiles allowed in the park per day. The Park Service's Final Rule implements a long-term winter use plan for Yellowstone, which will allow up to 720 commercially guided Best Available Technology (BAT) snowmobiles per day this season and 540 per day next season. The Wyoming attorney general office filed a petition for review of the winter-use plan soon after its release.

Wyoming officials say, even though the average number of snowmobiles in Yellowstone per day averaged 250 for the last three years, next season's cap of 540 is still too low. Environmentalists say the cap should be reduced even further. Yellowstone's wildlife denizens are largely silent on the issue.

In their petition, Wyoming officials decried requiring commercial guides for all snowmobile trips and also requested a "reasoned analysis" for changes made to management of avalanche-prone Sylvan Pass, which--thanks to helicopters and howitzers--will remain open to motorized oversnow travel this winter, presumably to the delight of Wyoming residents.

More on the most peaceful season to explore Yellowstone National Park after the jump.  [more]

Guest Opinion: George Wuerthner's On the Range

What do the Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Glacier National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument all have in common? Besides their common designation as national parks and monuments, all these conservation areas were initially opposed by local people.

After the creation of Yellowstone NP in 1872, the Helena Gazette opined “We regard the passage of the act as a great blow to the prosperity of the towns of Bozeman and Virginia City….” Montana’s Congressional representatives were so opposed to the park that they introduced bills into Congress every session for twenty years to undesignate the park.  [more]

“We cannot let Gary Trauner win"

Representative Barbara Cubin, R-WY, announced Saturday morning that she won’t run for another term in the U.S. House of Representatives -- but not before she got one last zing at the news media, with which she has had a famously testy relationship during her political career.

After a blistering attack on the Democratic majority in Congress and Democratic candidate Gary Trauner, and a lengthy list of her accomplishments in Washington, Cubin noted the recent spate of news reports that predicted she would announce today that she’s not going to run for her eighth term.

“I am going to run again,” she said to a suddenly quiet roomful of Republican Central Committee members and assorted reporters. “I’m going to get this cast off my foot and get through physical therapy, and then I’m going to get in good shape again,” she said to rising giggles and laughs in the audience as they got the “gotcha” joke at the expense of the press.  [more]