http://www.newwest.net/topic/main/C68/L/ New West Network: The Voice of the Rocky Mountains en info@newwest.net Copyright 2008 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:42:33 MDT Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:42:33 MDT http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/mccain_palin_earmarks_and_the_dna_of_bears_and_harbor_seals/C68/C68/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/mccain_palin_earmarks_and_the_dna_of_bears_and_harbor_seals/C68/C68/ Thu, 02 Oct 2008 08:24:55 MDT Last Friday, at the onset of the ongoing congressional struggle over our "main street economic rescue package," fifty million of us watched Republican presidential candidate John McCain debate his Democratic rival Barack Obama. And tonight, as Congress is finishing up our economic rescue, even more than fifty million of us will watch Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin face off with Democrat Joe Biden. Based on what happened in that presidential debate, I strongly suspect she won't say anything about the grizzly bear or harbor seal DNA. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/rnc_chair_mike_duncan_will_visit_idaho_tuesday/C68/C68/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/rnc_chair_mike_duncan_will_visit_idaho_tuesday/C68/C68/ Mon, 29 Sep 2008 11:36:38 MDT The Idaho Republican Party will host its national chair, Mike Duncan, on Tuesday, September 30, Idaho GOP leader Norm Semanko has announced on the IRP blog. Semanko wrote, “Chairman Duncan will help cut the ribbon at the new Ada County Republican Headquarters, address BSU and NNU College Republicans, and meet with local GOP candidates. He is also scheduled to visit with Governor Otter, as well as Lt. Governor and U.S. Senate candidate Jim Risch." “I am privileged to accompany Chairman Duncan during his visit and to introduce him at each of the scheduled events." "I had the good fortune of meeting Chairman Duncan during the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul earlier this month. I mentioned to him that my first job out of college was at the Republican National Committee, working on the 1988 Presidential campaign. He was pleasantly surprised and sincere in thanking me for my continued involvement with the Republican Party. That -- along with a lot of other things that happened at the National Convention -- made me feel pretty good about being a Republican.” http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/idaho_dems_hire_grassroots_netroots_communications_director/C68/C68/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/idaho_dems_hire_grassroots_netroots_communications_director/C68/C68/ Sun, 28 Sep 2008 12:46:09 MDT Beginning Wednesday, the Idaho Democratic Party (IDP) will have a new team member in Julie Fanselow, who is taking on the new job just a month before a national election. Fanselow, who was born “nine days before Barack Obama” as she told New West, grew up in Chicago and Pittsburgh, got her degree in journalism and political science from Ohio University, then landed in Idaho in 1989 to take a reporter’s job at the Twin Falls Times-News. After almost a decade of reporting, Fanselow spent the next decade writing for magazines, then a series of travel books, including the best-selling “Idaho Off the Beaten Path,” now in its 7th edition. Fanselow caught the political bug during the Watergate era, but didn’t have time for serious activism until the months leading up to the 2004 elections. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/filling_up_the_taj_mahal_waiting_for_the_white_house/C68/C68/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/filling_up_the_taj_mahal_waiting_for_the_white_house/C68/C68/ Sat, 27 Sep 2008 05:31:35 MDT Treasure Valley Democrats packed a local Indian restaurant to watch the first Presidential campaign and treated it like an old-style movie serial, cheering the hero and hissing the villain, and leaving no doubt whom they thought won the debate. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/idaho_gov_orders_budget_holdbacks/C68/C68/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/idaho_gov_orders_budget_holdbacks/C68/C68/ Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:25:31 MDT Idaho’s Republican Governor Butch Otter has ordered a one percent state budget holdback. “We’re all painfully aware of the serious economic downturn,” Otter said at a press conference. “We in Idaho are not amused. Our tax revenue forecasts are taking a hit.” “Acting in moderation now is the prudent and fiscally responsible thing to do,” said Otter in his written statement issued after the conference. “It recognizes economic realities and it may help us avoid more dramatic spending reductions later in the budget year.” “I also am directing all state agencies to hold an additional 1.5 percent of their appropriated budgets in reserve for now as a hedge against further declines in state revenue in the months to come. We still hope for the best, but we must plan for tough times ahead.” http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/will_dems_grab_defeat_from_jaws_of_victory_again/C68/C68/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/will_dems_grab_defeat_from_jaws_of_victory_again/C68/C68/ Mon, 22 Sep 2008 13:38:51 MDT Gore/Lieberman. Kerry/Edwards. Now there were two memorable election nights for Democrats. Gore’s 2000 loss will always be regarded by Dems as stolen, but 2004 had party faithful convinced, as always, that reasonable people would see that the Dem ticket was the obvious choice. At 2004 election-night gatherings, hope held out for a squeaker victory, and we all know how that turned out. I distinctly remember drinking straight vodka and arriving home in a cab, wearing only one shoe. Of course, things are worse here in Idaho, the proverbial reddest of the red states, because except in the capital city of Boise, we also lose most of the down-ballot races. Our elections produce winners like Larry Craig. Political writers have an always-available story in writing about how well Democrats grab defeat from the jaws of victory. There is even this unintelligible chart if you feel like getting lost in it. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/the_state_of_the_race_in_the_rockies/C68/C68/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/the_state_of_the_race_in_the_rockies/C68/C68/ Sun, 21 Sep 2008 14:58:31 MDT Emboldened Democrats spent the summer eagerly looking West with the expectation of picking up electoral votes in the Rockies while skittish Republicans have fretted about losing what once was a reliably red region. In particular, Barack Obama's campaign has been courting voters in Colorado, Montana, Nevada, and New Mexico -- all states carried by George W. Bush in 2004. Obama and his running mate, Joe Biden, have campaigned extensively in the Rockies and -- perhaps most telling -- Democrats decided to stage their convention in Denver in an effort to reach out to the region's voters. But all this was before the Republican National Convention and the arrival of the much-loved and much-loathed Sarah Palin. An unpretentious Idaho native and the governor of the wildest of Western states, many assumed that she would crush the Democrats' Mountain West insurgency. Now that we have some distance from the conventions -- and before the debates commence -- it's a reasonable time to examine where the race stands in the Rockies. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/american_hunters_and_shooters_association_responds_to_its_critics/C68/C68/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/american_hunters_and_shooters_association_responds_to_its_critics/C68/C68/ Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:30:38 MDT Editor's Note: If you visit NewWest.Net regularly, you know I've frequently written about the gun issue, the National Rifle Association (NRA), and the rival organization, the American Hunters and Shooters Association (AHSA). Every time I mention AHSA, commenters claim the group is nothing but a front for anti-gun groups or the ultra-liberal wing of the Democratic Party, or both. To address these concerns, I asked the ASHA to respond in detail to these claims. The Advisory Board of the AHSA prepared the following guest commentary exclusively for NewWest.Net.--Bill Schneider The recent national http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/mccain_obama_interviewed_by_field_stream/C68/C68/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/mccain_obama_interviewed_by_field_stream/C68/C68/ Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:15:58 MDT Outdoor magazine Field & Stream has posted interviews with presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama, providing insights into their positions on conservation, energy exploration and gun rights. While neither candidate hunts or owns a gun, both have been busy wooing those who do -- especially as the Rocky Mountain West has emerged as a battleground. A cursory summary after the jump. http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/craig_can_ask_for_donations_to_defense_fund/C68/C68/ http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/craig_can_ask_for_donations_to_defense_fund/C68/C68/ Fri, 19 Sep 2008 13:34:42 MDT CQ Politics is reporting that Idaho Sen. Larry Craig has been given permission by the Senate Ethics Committee to ask for donations to his legal defense fund: Craig's legal expense fund, called Fund for Justice, is disclosed in papers filed with the Senate's Office of Public Records. The three-term senator said Thursday that he has begun searching for donations into the fund. "I'm working at it now," said Craig, R-Idaho. Craig is waiting for a ruling from the Minnesota Court of Appeals on his request to reverse his guilty plea on charges originating from a sex sting at the Minnneapolis airport. A report must be filed quarterly disclosing who donates to Craig’s fund. The next reporting date is Oct. 15.