CHEYENNE - Mark Gordon of Buffalo, former Republican candidate for the U.S. House, is finding there is plenty of life after losing a political campaign.

Gordon, 51, a rancher and businessman, spent nearly $1 million of his own money in his quest for the Republican nomination for the U.S .House last August.

Former State Treasurer Cynthia Lummis of Cheyenne won the GOP nomination with 46 percent of the vote while Gordon collected 38 percent. In third place was Bill Winney, a retired Navy captain and, in fourth and last place, Michael Holland, a Green River physician.

Since the August primary election, Gordon has returned to ranching full time and has taken on two important new activities - as a board member of Volunteers of America and as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Kansas City.

"I was glad that we had a strong race both in the primary and general election," Gordon said in a recent interview.

He said he was disheartened, however, at how relatively few voters showed up for the Republican primary election in August.

"But I was really thrilled at how many people showed up at the general election," he added.

He said he thought there were good candidates all the way through, including Winney, Holland and the Democratic candidate for the U.S. House, Gary Trauner, who lost to Lummis in the general election.

It takes stamina and character to mount a statewide campaign, he said.

"As I look back I don't think we left too many stones unturned," Gordon said.

"If I were to do it again I think I probably would feel much more confident now in running just because it is such a new experience and getting to know the people of Wyoming, it takes a while to introduce yourself," he added.

Overall he said he is glad he did run. He also believes Lummis will do a good job as Wyoming's only representative in the U.S. House.

What he does deplore is the contentious nature of the 2008 U.S. House campaign.

Nevertheless he said that compared to Colorado campaigns this year, Wyoming candidates handled themselves pretty well.

During the campaign Gordon attacked Lummis for her record on taxation and spending during her years in elected office.

Lummis questioned whether Gordon was a bona fide Republican.

Other critics claimed Gordon was'a 'RINO" (Republican in Name Only). They pointed out his previous donations to Democratic candidates, including Gary Trauner in 2006, and his former ties to the Sierra Club.

Gordon is a former chairman of the Wyoming Environmental Quality Council and an avowed conservationist. A Wyoming native and graduate of Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vt., with a major in history, Gordon's positions on national issues such as Iraq and immigration were and are in line with GOP conservative thinking.

Yet Gordon also'touted'his independence as an outsider and first-time candidate for any political office.

When he announced for the GOP nomination for the U.S. House in January, Gordon said his goal was to take back government from "the professional politicians and Washington insiders" and to promote and diversify Wyoming's economy while protecting its future.

Supporters said Gordon was a welcome moderate candidate with fresh ideas.

He won endorsements from prominent Republicans such as former U.S. Sen. Malcolm Wallop and State Treasurer Joe Meyer.

"He didn't have as deep a connection with some of the traditional conservative Republicans," Meyer said recently. "He was not from the normal Republican stock who have been with the party for 30 years."

Gordon, he added, was a moderate who had a positive effect on the Wyoming Republican Party.

Gordon made a favorable impression on many Wyoming voters, including Linda Lillegrazen of Laramie.

A Democrat who campaigned for Democratic U.S. House candidate Gary Trauner, Lillegrazen nonetheless said she believes the Republican Party made a mistake when they did not give Gordon the nomination.

"I think he has a lot of talent,' she said.

Mike Sierz of Douglas also liked what Gordon had to say.

"I'm a Republican and I voted for the Democratic guy this year," he said, referring to Trauner.

He said he would have supported Gordon in the GOP primary over Lummis.

"I thought we needed a change instead of a good old Republican," he said.

Internally the Republican party in Wyoming "gets stuck in the mud" and people vote for Democrats for governor, for example, said Sierz who worked for the U.S. Forest Service and spent 25 years on the Converse County planning commission.

"There are no liberal Democrats in Wyoming," Sierz said. "A good Democrat here is pretty much middle-of-the-road and sometimes that is what's needed."

But Barry Glace of Gillette, an oil field worker and lifelong Republican, said Gordon struck him as a Barack Obama supporter.

"I thought Mark Gordon was New York liberal because of his associates," Glace said.

He added that although he doesn't agree with Lummis on all of the issues, "I think she'll do okay."

"I'm not embittered,' Gordon said. ' I knew it was a risk. My hope was that we give Wyoming the best choices we could and the voters stepped up and made their choice and I've got to live with that."

Asked if he might stage a statewide race for elected office in the future, Gordon said his wife, Jennie, had the best answer to that question.

"That's kind of like asking a woman after she's given birth if she wants to have another baby," Gordon said.

When they began the campaign, he and his wife agreed to give the race their best and if he didn't win,"so be it,' Gordon said.

"Now, it's odd, because you feel like there is something that resonated so I can't say never, but it will be awhile," he said.

In the meantime, Gordon has joined the board of the Volunteers of America, an organization that offers assistance for veterans, mothers and children or people who are transitioning out of hard times.

Projects include senior citizen housing in Torrington, a prisoner half-way facility in Gillette and a group home in Sheridan, among others.

His recent election to a three-year term on the Kansas City Federal Reserve will allow him to maintain contact with Wyoming citizens and businesses in a 'non-political way,' he said.

One of his campaign'planks was to promote small businesses in the state.

Contact capital bureau reporter Joan Barron at (307) 632-1244 or joan.barron@trib.com