Well-funded, disciplined, Cheney formidable in US House race

Accusations of carpet-bagging, a ticket for illegal fishing and a family spat over gay marriage led up to Cheney abandoning her bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi, a fellow Republican, last election cycle.

Dick Cheney has kept a low profile but is a top donor, along with the likes of former President George W. Bush, Bush adviser Karl Rove and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

"With an eight-way split in the vote, I think she pretty much is in the driver's seat," said Jim King, a University of Wyoming political science professor.

— State Sen. Leland Christensen, of Alta, a former sheriff, county commissioner and U.S. Army special operations forces soldier who accused Cheney on Facebook on Thursday of "using millions of out-of-state dollars and her Dad's last name to try to buy the election."

More than anything else, the Republican candidates have focused on Wyoming's down-in-the-dumps coal industry, railing against the Obama administration's federal coal-leasing moratorium and pollution controls sought for coal-fired power plants.