What the hell happened in Wyoming '06?

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Wyoming is one of, I believe, a few states where registered Republicans vastly outnumber Democrats and Independents combined, with more than 6 in 10 residents being Republicans.  Democrats make up just 20% of the electorate.

In 2006, Wyoming was an absolute clusterfck for the GOP with Democratic governor Dave Freudenthal winning reelection with just below 70% of the vote and the incumbent Republican congresswoman barely winning reelection with under 50% of the vote.

So, even taking into account the hostile anti-Bush sentiment of that year, why did the Republicans do piss-poor in what is indisputably the most Republican state in the country?

(Apologies if this is in the wrong board.)

[IceSpear]

Remember that in 2006 even many Republicans were annoyed with Bush. This was probably more acute in the Mountain West than in say, the Deep South.

The country was also a lot less polarized in 2006. Recall that Republican governors in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, California, and Minnesota got re-elected even during this massive Democratic wave. Freudenthal was extremely popular and Cubin was unpopular.

[Badger]

Wyoming is one of, I believe, a few states where registered Republicans vastly outnumber Democrats and Independents combined, with more than 6 in 10 residents being Republicans.  Democrats make up just 20% of the electorate.

In 2006, Wyoming was an absolute clusterfck for the GOP with Democratic governor Dave Freudenthal winning reelection with just below 70% of the vote and the incumbent Republican congresswoman barely winning reelection with under 50% of the vote.

So, even taking into account the hostile anti-Bush sentiment of that year, why did the Republicans do piss-poor in what is indisputably the most Republican state in the country?

(Apologies if this is in the wrong board.)

Freudenthal was a popular and efffective incumbent of a decidedly moderate bent. Even 10 years ago the national red state/blue state divide wasn't so deep as now, so that governor's races were not nearly so linked to the state's national partisanship. See the equally huge re-elections of Govs Henry in OK and Bresden in TN that year, or to a lesser degree Schwarzenegger in CA.

It is only because of WY's huge GOP bent and the congressional race being more nationalised (and thus partisan) that a nut ike Cubin survived the wave.

[Heisenberg]

And Craig Thomas, the incumbent Republican Senator won reelection with 70% of the vote. A few states south, in Arizona, 2006 saw another famous example of ticket splitting: Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano and Republican Senator Jon Kyl were both reelected by double digits (27 and 10 points, respectively). Speaking of Cubin, I looked her up and I found out that her 2006 Democratic opponent was in a wheelchair, and she told him that if he wasn't in that chair, she'd slap him. Wow, what an ugly, disrespectful comment to make. Man, the country has polarized so much since 10 years ago.

[publicunofficial]

Freudenthal was an exceptional governor who didn't give the majority people of Wyoming any reason to vote against him.

Barbara Cubin was an unpopular nutcase, with a very strong opponent in Gary Trauner. In most areas outside of the deep south, Republicans who have made public asses of themselves in the public eye have often lost or came close to losing to strong conservative Democratic challengers even in deeply red territory.  (See: Bill Sali 2008, Michelle Bachmann 2012, Virgil Goode 2008)

[hopper]

Freudenthal was an exceptional governor who didn't give the majority people of Wyoming any reason to vote against him.

Barbara Cubin was an unpopular nutcase, with a very strong opponent in Gary Trauner. In most areas outside of the deep south, Republicans who have made public asses of themselves in the public eye have often lost or came close to losing to strong conservative Democratic challengers even in deeply red territory.  (See: Bill Sali 2008, Michelle Bachmann 2012, Virgil Goode 2008)

No Goode lost because students came out big time from the University of Virginia to vote for Obama and that carried over down ticket to Tom Periello(D) to a congressional victory over Goode in the Virginia's 5th Congressional District race.

[Heisenberg]

Freudenthal was an exceptional governor who didn't give the majority people of Wyoming any reason to vote against him.

Barbara Cubin was an unpopular nutcase, with a very strong opponent in Gary Trauner. In most areas outside of the deep south, Republicans who have made public asses of themselves in the public eye have often lost or came close to losing to strong conservative Democratic challengers even in deeply red territory.  (See: Bill Sali 2008, Michelle Bachmann 2012, Virgil Goode 2008)

No Goode lost because students came out big time from the University of Virginia to vote for Obama and that carried over down ticket to Tom Periello(D) to a congressional victory over Goode in the Virginia's 5th Congressional District race.

Goode also made some very stupid and offensive remarks about Keith Ellison, who was sworn into Congress in January 2007 as the first Muslim Congressman. He said that Ellison could not constitutionally be seated since, as a Muslim, he cannot truthfully swear on a Bible (but he used Thomas Jefferson's copy of the Quran instead), though affirmation is an alternative. He also proposed banning Muslims from entering the US (way before Trumpism) so "more won't be elected to Congress." It all came back to bite him hard in 2008.

[Hydera]

Wyoming had an economic boom for most of Freudenthal's tenure which made him popular along with the anti-incumbent wave with Bush. The source of that boom was the growing interest for Oil and Coal in the state.