Casper City Councilman and Democrat Keith Goodenough is seeking his party's nomination to run against Republican U.S. Sen. John Barrasso in the November general election.

Goodenough announced his intention to run in a letter to the editor of the Casper Star-Tribune (See page A9).

"As always, my campaign will be based on giving honest opinions with regard to the root causes of the economic and social problems that face our country, as well as advancing long-range solutions to those problems," he wrote.

"I will continue to abide by my self-imposed campaign finance limits: no donations from Political Action Committees (PACs), and a limit of $100 per individual donor. Thank you, and let the campaign season begin!"

Goodenough was elected in November 2006 to the nonpartisan Casper City Council seat in Ward I, defeating former Mayor Renee Burgess.

His political career includes four years in the state House, 10 years in the state Senate, and two years as a lobbyist.

Goodenough could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

If he wins the Wyoming Democratic Party's primary election in August, he will face Barrasso, who was named by Democrat Gov. Dave Freudenthal to fill the remaining four-year term of the late Sen. Craig Thomas, who died of complications from leukemia in June.

While Goodenough and Barrasso have never faced each other in an election, they have shared similar positions as well as locked horns in political disputes and policy disagreements.

During his political career, Goodenough pushed for legislation to curb domestic violence; maintained a longtime National Rifle Association membership, garnering the NRA's endorsement in 2004; and criticized outmoded laws, most recently Casper's ordinance against public spitting.

He's fond of '60s-era slogans such as "power to the people" and "it's all about the love, baby."

In 2004, love wasn't enough.

That year, Goodenough lost the Senate District 28 seat by 111 votes to political newcomer Republican Kit Jennings in an acrimonious campaign with last-minute help from then-SD 27 Sen. Barrasso, who criticized Goodenough for opposing a bill to enhance penalties for adults having methamphetamine in the presence of a child.

"Why does Sen. Goodenough want to make it easier on dealers and harder for innocent children? Why would Sen. Goodenough want to lessen the penalty for allowing a child in a room or vehicle being used to manufacture, store, or sell methamphetamine," Barrasso wrote in a letter to his constituents and to the Star-Tribune.

But Goodenough opposed the bill because it could break up families and would do nothing about the meth problem, he said then. Many women with meth-using, abusive boyfriends are put in situations where they cannot escape their dangerous situations, he said then.

Barrasso would not respond when told the reasons Goodenough gave for opposing the bill.

In 2004, Barrasso and Goodenough also sparred over tort reform proposals including placing a cap on noneconomic - "pain and suffering" - damages awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits. Proponents of tort reform such as orthopaedic surgeon Barrasso said the reform was necessary to hold down malpractice insurance and help retain physicians in Wyoming.

Goodenough countered a better solution would be to set up a health insurance pool funded by physicians that would be 12 percent cheaper than commercial carriers.

Barrasso disagreed, saying that such a pool now would require doctors to pay 30 percent higher premiums than they pay now.

Gillette attorney Nick Carter has described himself as a possible candidate for the Democratic Party's nomination for U.S. Senate, but it is unclear whether he would be running against Barrasso or Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, who is also up for re-election.

Reach Tom Morton at (307) 266-0592, or at Tom.Morton@trib.com.