BOB MOEN Associated Press writer | Posted: Wednesday, October 25, 2006 12:00 am
CHEYENNE - Seeking to put an end to an incident that pundits say could tighten an already close U.S. House race, Rep. Barbara Cubin issued a public apology Tuesday for a comment she made to a disabled Libertarian candidate following a testy debate.
"It was person to person, and it was not an attack on the disabled," Cubin said in a telephone interview from Rock Springs. "In retrospect, I was wrong in what I said, and I apologize."
However, Libertarian Thomas Rankin said Cubin hadn't apologized to him personally and he still considered it an "open issue" until she did so.
"Barbara has been a loose cannon too long. She needs to be reined in," he said.
Cubin, who is seeking a seventh two-year term against Democrat Gary Trauner and Rankin, also presented a different account of what she said compared to what Rankin recalled, and her account of the incident was different from the one her campaign initially issued.
Rankin, who has multiple sclerosis and uses an electric wheelchair, said that after the debate Sunday night Cubin "walked over to me and said, 'If you weren't sitting in that chair, I'd slap you across the face."'
Cubin said she went over to Rankin, challenged his debate assertions and remarked that "if you had said that to anyone else, they probably would have smacked you."
She said her remark was made in frustration brought on by the debate and the stress of the campaign.
Oliver Walter, a University of Wyoming political science professor and dean of the UW College of Arts and Sciences, said such episodes tend to get incumbents in trouble.
"It's never good to lose your cool," Walter said.
The standard advice to politicians in cases like this is "when you make a goof, you apologize," he said.
Wyoming's lone U.S. House seat has been held by a Republican since 1978, when Dick Cheney won the open seat.
A Mason-Dixon Polling & Research poll conducted earlier this month for the Casper Star-Tribune showed Cubin leading Trauner 44 percent to 37 percent, with 4 percent saying they would vote for Rankin. The remaining 15 percent were undecided. The poll's margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Dave Marcum, a political science professor at Laramie County Community College, said it would be interesting to see if Rankin gains support - and that it probably was smart for Trauner to stay out of the fray. Trauner, who is Cubin's main opponent in the race, said he neither saw nor heard the confrontation.
As for Cubin, Marcum said, "this isn't going to help. How it hurts remains to be seen."
Cubin also said the statement issued by her campaign spokesman Monday was incorrect in saying that her comment was prompted by Rankin saying "something not very complimentary" to her. Cubin spoke first, she said.
In addition, Cubin said she had not personally apologized to Rankin because he had chosen to air the issue in the media rather than privately with her.
"He approached the media about it," she said. "I guess that is why I thought that is where he wanted it settled."
Rankin said he did not call reporters. "The media got hold of it and brought it to me," he said.
During the debate in Casper, Rankin accused Cubin of accepting improper campaign contributions from former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who is charged in Texas with money laundering and conspiracy for alleged violations of campaign finance laws.