× Thanks for reading! Log in to continue. Enjoy more articles by logging in or creating a free account. No credit card required. Log in Sign up {{featured_button_text}}

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — If you didn't know Dr. Taylor Haynes is running for governor of Wyoming, you might easily mistake him for a cowboy preacher.

With his signature hat, vest and boots, Haynes peppers his speech with frequent references to God. And he delivers campaign remarks with the natural preacher's dignified, intense air of certainty.

If elected governor, Haynes, 68, says he intends to call on Wyoming citizens to join him in occasional days of prayer and fasting to seek divine intervention to help the nation through its problems.

"We come from that strong Judeo-Christian ethic — that's who we are," Haynes told a crowd in Riverton in May, drawing applause. "And despite what Barack Obama said, we are a Christian people."

Obama has said the United States doesn't consider itself a nation of any one religion, but rather a nation of citizens bound by ideals and common values.

Haynes continued with his speech: "And so despite all of my education, all my experience in business, I'm going to cheat. I'm going to invoke divine providence as governor, and as a candidate, to deliver us through these trials that we're facing, and to roll back the evil that's trying to overtake us."