Liz Cheney For Congress in Virginia?



(image via usatoday)

There has been some buzz -- and Washington whispers -- that Liz Cheney, daughter of the Darth Vaderish former Vice President Dick Cheney, might be mulling a run for Congress. And if one nowadays is considering a high-profile run for office you've got to do it in Virginia (Virginia, IMHO, is the new Missouri as bellwether state). Much of the action in 2012 will probably revolve around Virginia. But what Congressional district would be the most opportune for Cheney? From TheDailyBeast:

"Liz Cheney's strong performances on cable news debating her father's critics have raised her profile to new highs. With Obama's Supreme Court nominee pushing interrogation policy off the headlines this week, Cheney has shown no signs of leaving the spotlight, instead taking to the airwaves to attack Obama's judicial philosophy as 'dangerous.' Her newfound media ubiquity is feeding buzz that she might run for Congress, a notion she has deflected with distinctly candidate-like non-answers

"... In pursuing a campaign, she would have to address where she might run. The most obvious choice would be in Northern Virginia, where, according to her latest FEC filings from 2004, she lives with her husband and five children. Assuming she'd be willing to (slightly) uproot her family to move to the right district, she would have some options. In Virginia's 8th District, the hawkish Cheney would certainly make for an interesting contrast with incumbent Democratic Congressman Jim Moran, who's been an outspoken opponent of the Bush administration on national-security issues. But the liberal makeup of the district would likely make any run there largely symbolic, especially against an established and well-funded candidate.

"A more intriguing choice would be the 11th District, where the freshman Democratic congressman, Rep. Gerry Connolly, won an open seat in 2008 after the incumbent, Republican Rep. Tom Davis, retired last year. But while the district narrowly voted for her father's ticket in 2004, it has since trended more solidly Democratic along with the rest of Northern Virginia, and gave Obama a solid majority in last year's election. 'I would list [Connolly] as a substantial favorite over her,' University of Virginia politics professor Larry Sabato told The Daily Beast in an interview. 'He'd run against the Bush-Cheney administration and that would be enough to kill it right there.'

"According to Sabato, her best bet in Virginia might be to wait for Republican Congressman Frank Wolf to retire in the 10th District, but even then it could be a struggle as the area's makeup is by no means overwhelmingly conservative. Much of her success would depend on the timing of her run.

Still, does the GOP want to go back to the Bush years? And would Virginia -- which veered blue in 2008 partially on Obama's excellent campaign and as a referendum against her father's tenure -- be the proper place?