Dr. Barrasso Comes to Washington

ABC News’ Z. Byron Wolf Reports: He won’t be sworn in on the Senate floor until sometime this afternoon, but the newest senator, Republican Dr. John Barrasso of Wyoming, is already up on Capitol Hill learning the ropes. 

Right off the bat, Barrasso had flashbulbs and TV cameras in his face as he appeared in a photo-op for reporters this morning with Minority Leader McConnell from Kentucky and the other Senator from Wyoming, Republican Mike Enzi — who, by the way, defeated Barrasso for the 1996 Republican nomination to run for Senate.

The three then ignored questions shouted by reporters about votes scheduled in the debate over comprehensive immigration reform.  Watch the video HERE.

Barrasso, an orthopedic surgeon from Casper who had been serving as a state legislator, promises to be a rare new conservative voice in the Senate — only one Republican was elected in the 2006 midterm election.

The new Republican from Wyoming fills the seat vacated by the late Sen. Craig Thomas, a Republican, who died June 4th after a battle with cancer.  State law mandated that Wyoming’s Democratic Governor, Dave Feudenthal, choose from three possible replacements selected by the state’s Republican party.  More on that HERE.

Enzi faces reelection in 2008 and Barrasso will have to win a special election then if he wants to remain in the seat to complete Thomas’ term. Despite easy elections for both Thomas and Enzi in recent years, the recent election of the Democrat Freudenthal and the existence of two simultaneous Senate races in the Fall of 2008 could turn rural Wyoming into an unlikely Congressional battleground state.