News Letter Journal
Bob Bonnar
The campaign trail can be long and arduous, especially in Wyoming where stops can be seperated by 100 miles of prairie, but for the wife and daughters of Governor Dave Freudenthal, the trail also provides an opportunity to experience the wonders of the state as a family.
"It's been a lot of fun," First Lady Nancy Freudenthal told the News Letter Journal when she and the youngest Freudenthal sibling stopped in Newcastle last week.
She grew up in Cody, and went to the University of Wyoming before she started practicing law, but she said that cruising the highways with her daughters is different than travelling around the state as part of the Cody High School swim team when she was a teenager.
"To have the opportunity to travel around the state as an adult is very rewarding," Freudenthal said.
"It's really neat to get to know the state on a closer level. I wouldn't get to know Wyoming like this if I wasn't on the campaign trail," agreed her daughter Katie, a junior at CSU who has put higher education on hold for a couple of months to pitch in on her dad's reelection effort.
"I am taking my fall semester off to work full time on the campaign. School's always there, and this experience is a once in a lifetime for me and my family," reported Katie, who splits duties with her sister, Hillary, and spends her time at the Cheyenne campaign headquarters when she isn't on the road.
"We alternate. At the beginning of each week we decide who's doing what. My sister and I will go out and travel alone sometimes," the governor's daughter said.
The First Lady is just happy to have this opportunity to grow a little closer to her daughters.
"I'm honored to be able to travel with my daughters. People can appreciate that campaigns in Wyoming are family affairs," she said.
The practicing attorney has taken time off from her own job for the 2006 campaign, which is more than enough to keep the whole Freudenthal family busy.
"We're out on the road for four days, and go home and do wash and repack. Then we get back on the road again," the First Lady said.
Along the way they're meeting a lot of people, and liking what they see in the little communities scattered across this vast state.
Although the governor's wife and daughter don't think of themselves as politicians, the people of Wyoming know they have access to the state's Chief Executive, and part of their job on the trail is to visit with the people who will be going to the polls in November.
"We encourage folks to talk to us about issues they want us to take back to Dave, and we've had a really good response on that. We've heard about everything from how historic highway signs are in disrepair to saving versus spending on our communities. We try to be open, and Katie takes pretty thorough notes on policy issues. A lot of times we take their contact information back with us," Nancy remarked.
Although the governor's wife is obviously well connected, she said that voters are very understanding of her role.
"Sometimes I'm not that informed, and people don't expect me to be. Most persons don't look at me as a spokesperson for his policies, but if I can provide additional information about an issue, I do," the First Lady explained.
While Nancy Freudenthal does not consider herself to be a policy maker, like a number of First Ladies before her, she plays an active role in Wyoming, and does what she can to make the state a better place to live.
"We frequently have meetings onthe Wyoming First Lady's initiative to decrease childhood drinking," she noted. During her visit to Newcastle last Thursday, she spoke on this topic at the Northern Wyoming Mental Health Foundation luncheon.
She said that tackling subjects like youth drinking is made easier by the fact that she has raised children in Wyoming, and feels close to them. Having Katie on the campaign trail has helped her understand how some of the issues in Wyoming affect kids today.
"It's terrific to have a younger voice in those discussions talking about how life has changed, and how what we knew growing up really isn't what children now aren't experiencing," Nancy said.
"You have to empower the youth to want to change," Katie said of her mother's campaign to curtail youth drinking, and the role she plays in it.
The Freudenthal's spent Wednesday afternoon at the hospital and manor. The following morning they toured the downtown area, and stopped at the refinery before meeting more community members at the luncheon.
Immediately after lunch they were back on the road, this time to Sundance, knowing that the long miles wouldn't be too much of a burden because they could pass the time as mothers and daughters do, and that there would be time at the end of the road for an activity they both enjoy.
"We do like to visit the stores and shop in the towns we visit," the First Lady laughed.
