GOP dumping at least 200 thousand in Idaho...bet they don't do that often.

[madfloridian]

There is a post at Daily Kos with several items about what is going on that very red state, so-called, named Idaho.

Here is the most interesting part:

Idaho the good the bad and the ugly

You need to read all of it, but this part sticks out.

With several polls showing Grant nipping at Sali's heels, the NRCC has dumped almost $200k into this state in order to prevent a Democratic rout in Idaho, according to the latest FEC filings. And they're not done yet: the Club For Growth has scurried back into the fray, pumping in an emergency transfusion of $180k for oppositional TV ads against Grant earlier today. And knowing the Club For Growth, they're going to be leaving their kid gloves at home. Grant is within striking distance of costing them a crucial ally in the House, and they're not happy about it.

That must have been a surprise. One of Dean's goal with the 50 state plan was to make them spend their money, not allow them to hoard it anywhere.

[C_U_L8R]

1. That's a lot of potatoes

or local tv time

[Skink]

2. Diebold kickbacks

[usregimechange]

3. That would be like the Dems dumping money into Mass.

[Erika]

5. Not at all

The urban areas in Idaho are solid democrat.

[Erika]

4. Please donate to Grant

at www.grantforcongress.com Idaho is not nearly as GOP as one thinks.

Sali is an absolute idiot (Republicans description).

[madfloridian]

6. Here is something you might find interesting...

I put this in GD yesterday. I don't really think any state is red, so I put "so-called". It is good to see the GOP having to work.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/454

Also here is a picture of when Dean was there last year. He drew about 500 and was treated warmly. Funny thing though, the papers said he was in enemy territory.


Edit to say I got the picture from a newspaper article there, but the link appears to be dead.

[Erika]

7. Thanks! n/t

[Daylin Byak]

8. It's weird cause we have a chance in ID-1

The reason why is the repuke candidate. His name is Bill Sali, he's a state rep in the Idaho Legislature and he's not too popular with Idaho Republicans ind indies in the area, he's too far to the right and well just a godamn disgrace of life. Although the district went 70% in 2004 for Republican Butch Otter(who is running for Governor) it's really split down the middle, if we can get a candidate that can reach out to moderate GOP voters who think thibk they been screwed by the GOP for nominting Sali and the boatload of indies that make up 28% of the District, we could win this race and hopefully Larry Grant is that candidate.

Let's make Idaho Blue this election, what to you think?

[madfloridian]

9. Anyway, it struck me as interesting...

that they were having to work at it. That means that part of Dean's plan is working.

[madfloridian]

10. A New Map Out West

Interesting article from US News about the 08 scenario for the party.

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/061015/23west.htm

"Add it all up, and Democrats hope a new day is dawning. "We intend to contest Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Nevada as a unit next time in the presidential because we think we can win there," Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean told U.S. News. Dean's theory is that, with a combined total of 29 electoral votes, those four states would make it unnecessary for the Democrats to win Florida, with 27 electoral votes, which they have lost in the last two down-to-the-wire presidential elections. "Bill Clinton won every single one of those states at one time or another," Dean added."

"Big brother. Dean said the key to the Democratic resurgence lies in what he sees as the rightward, interventionist shift of the national GOP. "The Republican Party has become the big-brother party, and this is a very libertarian part of the country. ... don't believe it's the government's place to tell them what to do with their personal lives, and this is a government that specializes in telling people what to do in their personal lives."

[madfloridian]

11. I was wrong, they are dumping over 500,000 in Idaho.

http://www.democrats.org/a/2006/10/50-state_strate_24.php

The WaPost summarizes the race:

"It is, perhaps, the political equivalent of hell freezing over in the interior West.
This red state where conservative Republicans routinely wipe the floor with hapless Democrats has a Republican running for Congress who just might lose.

The suddenly competitive race is a delicious development for Larry Grant, a Democratic candidate for the House who finds himself transformed from sacrificial lamb to reason for worry among national Republican strategists.

His Republican opponent is Bill Sali, an eight-term state representative with a corrosive reputation for irking his fellow Republicans. The Republican speaker of the Idaho House, Bruce Newcomb, said this spring of Sali: "That idiot is just an absolute idiot.""

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/23/AR2006102301174.html

[Hippo_Tron]

12. TV time is cheap in Idaho I would imagine

So I would say that $500,000 is probably a lot to be spending on this race.