CHEYENNE - Perennial candidate Al Hamburg of Torrington is running this year as a Democrat for the U.S. House because he wants to talk about two big issues - illegal aliens and the war in Iraq.

Hamburg, a 75-year-old retired house painter and military veteran, said he likes Republican incumbent Barbara Cubin for her stand against illegal immigrants but faults her for her support of the war in Iraq.

"If Barbara Cubin came out against the war, I would probably vote for her," Hamburg said Thursday in a telephone interview.

Hamburg will face Gary Trauner, a Teton County businessman, in the Democratic primary election.

Trauner is the only other Democrat to announce for Cubin's seat.

"Gary Trauner's got a lot of money to run," Hamburg said. "But what issues is he gong to talk about? At least I'm going to talk about the issues."

"I know I got a one in a million chance of winning," he added.

He also is interested in health care.

In a letter announcing his candidacy for Wyoming's only seat in Congress, he wrote, "Wyoming people could all have free health care from a health care severance tax on coal plus a mineral severance tax rebate like Alaska gives each citizen each year," Hamburg said.

Kenn Gilchrist of Casper has announced he's running for the Republican ticket in the race. Cubin has not officially announced her plans to seek a seventh term in 2008.

Hamburg last ran for the U.S. House as a Democrat in 2004. He received 9 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary.

In 2006 he ran as a Democrat for governor and also for the U.S. Senate in Nebraska.

He has also campaigned as a Republican, an independent and as a member of the New Alliance Party in the late 1980s. In 1984, he signed up his dog, Woofer D. Coyote, to run for president and was a presidential candidate himself in 2000.

In 1990, Hamburg was convicted of two felony counts after he forged signatures to get on a special election ballot to replace U.S. Rep. Dick Cheney, who had been appointed secretary of defense.

A judge sentenced Hamburg to a suspended prison sentence, probation and fines.

The Wyoming Supreme Court later dismissed one of the counts on appeal. The state Parole Board restored Hamburg's voter rights in Oct. 20, 2003, making him eligible to run for state office.

But as a convicted felon he could not hold a state elected office.

No such constraint applies to candidates for federal office, however, according to Hamburg and the secretary of state's office.

Capital reporter Joan Barron can be reached at (307) 632-1244 or at joan.barron@casperstartribune.net