Guest Opinion by Keith Roark, Idaho Democrats Chair

In Idaho, Democrats Represent the Future

Idaho Republican Party Chairman Norm Semanko’s comments about the 2008 Idaho general election appeared recently in this space. Mr. Semanko took pains to assure everyone that his party is alive and well. The nation is bogged down in two costly wars, our economy is in the worst shape since the Great Depression and our standing with other nations reached its lowest point during the Bush years. But here in Idaho, Mr. Semanko tells us, the GOP - the party that got us where we are today - is alive and well. That’s not necessarily good news, Norm, but the future is not as dismal as your words suggest.

Democrats are still in the minority in Idaho, but the demographic trends are very much in our favor. For a sign of things to come, look no further than Caldwell High School. Not only did Barack Obama win the mock election there by more than a two-to-one margin; down ballot Democrats Walt Minnick, Larry LaRocco and state legislative candidate Mike Warwick won, too. Idaho’s young people are looking to Democrats to address the issues of the future and turning away from the shrill and negative views of an increasingly extremist Republican Party.

WE NEED THIS GUST OF FRESH AIR

Please, Let it be Grijalva for Interior Secretary

Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post and several bloggers are naming Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) as a "leading contender" for Obama's pick for Secretary of the Interior. This cabinet position usually goes to a westerner, and Grijalva would be an excellent choice.

He current chairs the House Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands and has been an outspoken advocate for protecting national parks, wilderness and wildlife habitat in the West, recently opposing the Bush Administration's plans for oil and gas leasing and coal mining in critical areas and resisting deep cuts in national park budgets.

Guest Opinion: Children Chant

Children’s Chant Against Obama: Never Again

When second- and third-graders chanted "Assassinate Obama" on a Madison School District bus recently, district spokeswoman Janet Goodliffe explained that most of the children didn't understand what the words mean. According to The Associated Press, she attributed the chant to the community's being "highly conservative" and overwhelmingly for John McCain.

I admire Janet Goodliffe as a preschool education leader. But as a teacher, she offered tortured excuses instead of capitalizing on a great teaching opportunity.

This is not an isolated incident. As a former teacher and Idaho Falls school volunteer, Luella Hendrickson, wrote on this page Thursday, after the election, children in her daughter's elementary class condemned Obama for being a Muslim, not being a U.S. citizen, selling out to the Arabs, taking away our guns, etc.

Anyone with ears to hear know these children were parroting their parents. Children get the drift from home: The new president is radical, dangerous and not to be trusted.

How terribly sad.

Column: Politics

Mountain West Cities Join National Protest Against Prop 8

No matter your feelings about gay equality and marriage, the issue is firmly political. It’s the civil rights movement of our day, and can no longer be relegated to a fringe few --especially after the passage of Proposition 8, which bans gay marriage, in California ten days ago.

Donors from many states gave money to help pass Prop. 8, but Idahoans donated more than $400,000 to pass it, second only to Utah in out-of-state contributions.

Several publications, including Pride Depot, are calling for a boycott of businesses on the donor list.

A national day of protest called “Join the Impact – Promote Love and Equality in Your City” on Saturday aims to bring national attention and a collective experience to people who want to claim their support for gay marriage and their objection to the California initiative.

In the Rocky Mountain West – at least in the states where New West publishes - there are 19 events scheduled for tomorrow, all at 11:30 Mountain Time, which are listed here.

Diary of a Mad Voter: Joan McCarter

The New Western Landscape, Same as the Old One?

The headiness of election eve (was it really only a week ago) and some apparently very bad polling gave me a little too much confidence in western voters in making last week's predictions. But elections do have consequences, and while a few key races didn't turn the way Democrats had hoped, there's a new sheriff in town who's got a very tough job ahead of him in dealing with messes in the West.

Election '08

Western Republicans: Soul-Searching Time

The sweeping Democratic victory across much of the West has state Republican Parties in Colorado, Washington, Oregon and even Idaho questioning their leadership and direction. In Colorado, some predictable sniping at the tactics of the party leadership is accompanied by a deeper argument over whether the party should turn to the right, as Tom Tancredo is urging, or move to the center, reports the Denver Post. Meanwhile, in the Pacific Northwest, Republicans are facing population trends (i.e. in-migration and urbanization) that look grim indeed, reports Floyd McKay at Crosscut. Oregon now has no statewide officeholders from the GOP for the first time ever. In Idaho, Republicans remain in firm control and the state party considers Tuesday to have been a fine day.giving some pause on both sides of the aisles.

Guest Opinion, Election 2008

Idaho Republicans Respond to Election News

Don’t call it a comeback.

After several newspaper reports about his death had been published, Mark Twain famously said “Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.” Remember what the media said about the Idaho Republican Party this past summer? They said we were in “disarray” and hopelessly divided. They labeled us as out of touch. And they tried to overwhelm us with negative press coverage. Above all, they said Idaho Republicans had lost their edge and couldn't win. Funny thing is they forgot to check-in with the voters.

All the while, Idaho Republicans stuck to their traditional values: limited government, less spending, lower taxes and a basic respect for private property, personal liberty and the sanctity of life -- as well as a strong commitment to national security and our troops.

Nothing fancy. Nothing difficult to understand. Just time-honored, Constitutional principles that have kept our nation strong – and a lot of hard work out on the campaign trail. We believed in Idaho voters, instead of browbeating them or suggesting they were backward or behind the times, as some liberals did.

Election 2008: Idaho's First CD

Democrat Minnick Wins Idaho’s First District, Sali Refuses to Concede

For Idaho Democrats, Tuesday night was all about Barack Obama and Walt Minnick.

After Boise election-night gatherings went wild as Obama’s historic win was announced, Democratic candidate for Senate Larry LaRocco conceded his loss to Lt. Gov. Jim Risch, and sentiment for the hard-working stalwart and former congressman LaRocco influenced the mood.

Then the waiting began as the votes were counted for the race for the 1st Congressional District seat between businessman Walt Minnick and one-term incumbent Bill Sali, and the candidates traded places for the lead several times. It wasn’t until about 11:00 this morning that results were final. Minnick took 51% with 175,567 votes; Sali 49%, with 171,324.

Minnick formally declared victory at the Idaho Historical museum at 11:15 in front of a demanding line of cameras and reporters, and was pulled in all directions for many interviews. He and his campaign staff had been up nearly all night waiting for results, and his two younger kids, home from school today, leaned on him from time to time as he was talking.

A conservative Blue-Dog Democrat, Minnick told New West he would make "working across party lines" mean something, and had already spoken with 2nd District Congressman Mike Simpson, who won reelection to his seat. They talked briefly about working on public lands and water issues, the Boulder-White Clouds Initiative and other big projects already being undertaken by the Idaho delegation.

The New President and the New West

Here in Montana, and across the Rocky Mountain West, the election of Barack Obama represents the startling culmination of social, cultural and political changes that have been underway in this region for many years. You've heard a lot of this by now: the Mountain West, increasingly populated by amenity-seeking coastal migrants and Latino immigrants, and with an independent-minded electorate that's resistant to Republican over-reaching on social issues, is no longer solid red, but rather "in play." And if the breadth of Obama's victory ultimately rendered the electoral votes of Colorado and New Mexico and Montana and Nevada superfluous, the deeper significance of the changes remain.

It certainly didn't play out the way any pundit might have predicted a couple of years ago. Obama, for starters, is hardly the "Western" candidate that many Western Democrats imagined would be the standard-bearer for the inevitable breakthrough. "You guys have a nice deal around here," Obama said in Missoula last spring, with all the wonder of a first-time tourist. He joked about going fly fishing (a river runs through it, after all!), but it's hard to picture him in waders.