http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=C614507F-14FD-470B-8CE3-561FF128AEB6 Liz Cheney: John McCain a 'liberal Republican'
By: James Hohmann
October 22, 2013 01:09 PM EDT
Liz Cheney tried to raise money Tuesday by calling John McCain a “liberal Republican” who’s backing her opponent in the Wyoming Republican Senate primary, Republican Sen. Mike Enzi.
“Liberal Republican Senators like John McCain and Olympia Snowe have endorsed my opponent,” the daughter of the former vice president wrote, before asking for cash. “We must be doing something right if these folks are fighting so hard to preserve the status quo.”
The Arizona senator and 2008 GOP presidential nominee has said he is open to campaigning for three-term incumbent Enzi, who Cheney is challenging in next year’s primary.
“You know the old line about showhorses and workhorses,” McCain said on CNN in July. “Mike Enzi is the epitome of a workhorse in the Senate.”
Snowe has said it is “unfortunate” and “regrettable” that Cheney is running against one of the more conservative members of the Senate.
A McCain spokesman didn’t immediately offer a response, and a Cheney spokeswoman did not respond to a request for elaboration.
Cheney, who held a State Department post in the George W. Bush administration, moved full-time to Wyoming about a year ago, but she spent some time there as a child her father represented the state in the House.
Because party leaders have rallied behind Enzi, Cheney is positioning herself as the outsider in the race. She raised $1 million in her first quarter as a candidate, tapping her family’s deep well of connections.
In the new solicitation, aimed at getting small-dollar online contributions, she notes that the National Republican Senatorial Committee is helping Enzi raise money, and she recalls that D.C. leaders initially backed Charlie Crist over Marco Rubio in the 2010 Florida Senate primary.
“The Washington Establishment is doing all it can to try to stop us,” wrote Cheney. “Even with the mess in Washington today, the Establishment is fighting hard to protect incumbents. You and I know that protecting incumbents won’t protect our freedom.”