Reporters looking for a feud between the Cheneys and her new foe Sen. Mike Enzi have come up a little short. Enzi’s not enjoying the challenge, but he’s known the Cheneys for decades and he’s gone fly-fishing with the paterfamilias. The real “feud” is between the ascendant America-first Republicans represented by Paul, and the conservative hawks who’ve lost their leading role in the party.

It’s not that the neoconservatives have disappeared, exactly. Conda, who tried to organize that late anti-Paul surge in 2010, is now chief of staff to Sen. Marco Rubio. … But Rubio’s star has faded this year, and he regularly polls behind Paul in 2016 ballot tests for a Republican primary. Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham, the most reliable hawks in the Senate, cause burning sensations for conservatives on … basically everything else.

Liz Cheney doesn’t have those problems. Like Arkansas Rep. Tom Cotton, a freshman who’s been nudged to run for the U.S. Senate by Kristol and others, Cheney’s seen by neoconservatives as a possible star. “She’s so good at articulating her views on policy,” says Debra Burlingame, the sister of a pilot whose plane was hijacked on 9/11 and a co-founder of Keep America Safe with the now-candidate. “I think she’ll help shore up support for what she believes and bring people back into the Republican Party, because we’re hungering for leadership. We can’t retreat from the world.” And would she stave off the intellectual challenge from Paul? “I don’t think that will be a serious factor. How many Rand Paul types are out there?”