Column: Idaho U.S. Senate Race

Risch Campaign Worried About Spoilers?

By Jill Kuraitis, 9-05-08

	Larry LaRocco (D) Jim Risch (R)

Attempts on behalf of the Risch for Senate campaign to get rid of rivals tell the story of a candidate who is afraid the race is a close one.

Sometimes, “spoilers” -candidates who can’t win themselves but who divert enough votes to throw the election to a candidate who is favored by a minority – can be convinced to drop out. But sometimes, a spoiler is running for the single purpose of just that – spoiling it for a candidate they don’t want.

In the case of Independent Rex Rammell, that motivation isn’t hard to imagine. Rammell’s dislike of Republican Jim Risch is well known, although Rammell won’t openly say he’s running to throw the race to Democrat Larry LaRocco.

In “Will Rex Rammell’s Run Ruin Risch?” I wrote about a Wall Street Journal article which quotes Sen. Larry Craig saying Idaho Republicans are worried.

Now, NBC affiliate KTVB’s Ysabel Bilbao is reporting that Republican Senate candidate Jim Risch’s campaign had Rep. Bill Sali call three candidates and ask them to quit the race to ensure Risch’s election. (See CORRECTION)

Risch’s spokesman denied that Lt. Gov. Risch knew of these efforts before they were made.

Libertarian Kent Marmon, independent Rex Rammell and Constitution Party candidate Pro-Life were all contacted by Sali, according to KTVB’s Ysabel Bilbao. The report quotes Sali spokesman Wayne Hoffman saying “This isn’t about them, this is about the Democrats trying to use the number of people on the ballot to their advantage, they are making an effort to win not only Bill Sali’s seat, but the seat that Jim Risch is running for and it’s a big concern.”

In a related story, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that Independent Rex Rammell should stay on the ballot.  An attorney representing a group of ten voters sued Secretary of State Ben Ysursa, trying to get Rammell’s name off the ballot with claims that his original petition signatures did not add up to the 1,000 necessary to run for office.

“Bill Sali is confirming something that the LaRocco campaign has known for over a year – that Idahoans are ready for a change and old-school politicians like Jim Risch are not the kind of change they are looking for,” LaRocco campaign spokesman Dean Ferguson told New West.

Risch spokesman Matt Ellsworth responded, “The Risch campaign has a double-digit lead and we’re not worried about anything in this race. To say that we’re worred about spoilers is certainly a stretch.”

UPDATE:  Risch spokesman Matt Ellsworth called with a request for some corrections and a response (which is the last paragrph, above) to this article.  He said, accurately, that I hadn’t called the Risch campaign first to ask for responses, and I told him I had called the campaign so many times in the past and received no return calls that I had given up. Most of those calls were made before Ellsworth joined the campaign. He very nicely apologized and we have established contact. All reports or columns concerning this race will now include a request for response or information from the Risch campaign. I am very nicely apologizing for the inaccuracy.

CORRECTION: Channel 7’s report did not say that Risch “had” Sali call the three candidates, only that Sali had done it.

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