GOPER LOSES LEAD OVER 'SLAP THREAT'
Post Wire Services
Wyoming's sole rep.October 30, 2006 -- CHEYENNE, Wyo. - The Democratic candidate for the only House seat in the reddest of states - Vice President Dick Cheney's Wyoming - is drawing even with GOP Rep. Barbara Cubin after a wheelchair-bound third-party candidate accused her of threatening to slap him.
Cubin, who is seeking a seventh term, leads Democrat Gary Trauner 44 percent to 40.4 percent, according to a new poll by the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle.
Five percent said they would vote for the allegedly threatened Libertarian candidate, Thomas Rankin.
Cubin, who is seeking a seventh term, held a solid lead over Democrat Gary Trauner going into an Oct. 23 debate. But her alleged threat against Libertarian candidate Thomas Rankin apparently gave Trauner a big boost.
Rankin, who has multiple sclerosis and uses a wheelchair, claims that after the debate, Cubin "walked over to me and said, 'If you weren't sitting in that chair, I'd slap you across the face.' "
Cubin's version is that she challenged Rankin's debate assertions and said, "If you had said that to anyone else, they probably would have smacked you."
A Democrat has not held the seat since 1979, when Rep. Teno Roncalio left the House.
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