Posted on 12/08/2008 6:19:04 PM PST by Clintonfatigued
Idaho Republicans are jockeying for a chance to try and retake one of the nation’s most conservative House districts next cycle — even before the new Congress is sworn into office.
After a series of missteps and controversies, Rep. Bill Sali (R) narrowly lost his 1st congressional district seat to Rep.-elect Walt Minnick (D) in November. Minnick squeaked by with 50.6 percent of the vote to Sali’s 49.4 percent.
The Cook Political Report ranks the district, which covers western Idaho, the 14th most conservative in the country, and it’s a top target for Republicans. President Bush won it with 69 percent in 2004. And with Sali out, the seat is attracting interest from some popular state politicians.
Idaho Republican Party Executive Director Sid Smith said that the top potential challengers are state Sen. John McGee, state Attorney General Lawrence Wasden and, if he opts for a rematch, Sali.
Sali spokesman Wayne Hoffman did not rule that out.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
First thing first- I did not choose the title of this article.
Second, while I think Bill Sali is excellent on the issues, his personality grates on his constituants. The GOP needs someone else to run.
I wish Steven’s senate seat in Washington was back up for revote this soon. Steven’s should have done what was best for the country and stepped aside. Now we have 6 years of a Dem representing the most conservative place in the Union. sad what corrupt, selfishness does to politicians.
I have noticed that in all the elections since Nov 4, Republicans are winning more often than losing. Perhaps there is buyer’s remorse already?
He certainly made a lot of enemies over the years.
Minnick did what most Dims in “red” states do, he ran from the right. Unless he starts bringing in pork to this district (my district) in a Robert Byrd kind of pace, I think he’ll be a one-term congressman.
(I think.)
And Minnick LIED, LIED,LIED about the Fair Tax, which Sali advocated, portraying it by implication as a new tax to be added onto the current tax burden.
I was there last Thursday! I drove to Emmett to buy an e-bike a fellow had on Craigslist.
My dad was born and raised in Emmett, it’s beautiful country.
Kinda late in the cycle I saw a "Sportmen for Minnick" yard sign go up along a road. Whether a "sportsman" put it up or had anything to do with it is beside the point. I am sure it had some small effect on the outcome.
Anybody have any good links to sites that have made it a point to analyze prospects for the next elective cycle, from a Senate or House perspective? We were hearing reports of rat-favoring winds for at least 2 years prior to this one, and now it is less time than that to the next one... what do the cards say?
Sali represents an ultra solid GOP district, so he must have really had foot in the mouth disease to lose in this district (I haven't followed the news on exactly what he did). But nevertheless, this is one district we can't afford to let the Dems keep.
But the important thing to avoid a crowded primary of 10 Republicans wasting all their money and resources against each other. The goal should be for all Idaho Republicans to open fire on the RAT Congressman, now that he's in office and can't pretend to be conservative anymore.
Jindal, Cao, Pence, Blackwell, Vasquez, Palin: Leaders of The NEW Post-Bush Era Republican Party.
I like the sound of that.
Vasquez can’t even control himself.
No, it’s just that now that Bush is out of the way, Real Conservatives are allowed to re-assert themselves in the minds of the public as Republicans (the Obama Drano cleaned the Bush Derangement largely from the Republican toilet).
I voted for Sali in the ‘06 GOP Primary (and did the same in the two general elections in which he ran), and I narrowed it down to him and Vasquez. While I liked (and I mean really liked) his position on immigration, Vasquez had almost made himself to be a single issue candidate—even though the issue is extremely important. (Vasquez also had a habit of not being as conservative on other issues as well, and it wasn’t as though Sali was an open borders kind of candidate either. Quite the opposite in fact).
Now, what Sali did to “irritate” people was he angered all of the RINOs that ran against him back in ‘06, which is perfectly fine by me. A few RINOs openly supported Minnick and Minnick did well enough in the major population center(s) in the district (Canyon County, western Ada, etc.) to get him the win.
So is Idaho becoming like Colorado, ie a moderate wave of conservative California refugees followed by a tsunami of LIBERAL California refugees?
Yes and no. Yes, you have a lot of liberals (not just from CA but from OR and WA) that have moved here and tried to rabblerouse. On the other hand, both houses of the state legislature are controlled by the GOP and the D's are still confined to the Boise city limits and Blaine County (where Ketchum and Sun Valley are located), so we've got that going for us.
(Hopefully you'll forgive us for being the state that gave America Sen. Frank Church).
Let's also not forget that Barney Mae Frank was born and reared in, you guessed it, New Jersey.
Sounds like the accusations constantly made against Tancredo -- that he was a narrow minded, single-issue candidate. While Tancredo did make immigration his signature issue and talk about it nonstop, he was excellent on other issues too and gave great responses articulating the conservative viewpoint when it came time to defend them. Even better, the more the Dems and RINOs screamed about what an evil intolerant racist Tancredo was, the more his constituents defended him and kept voting him back into office. If Vasquez is "single issue" the way Tanc is, I'm all for him.
>> Vasquez also had a habit of not being as conservative on other issues as well <<
On what issues is Vasquez not conservative? Please cite specific examples. If he's wrong on some major conservative policy positions, I'll be happy to rethink my support of him.
>> Now, what Sali did to “irritate” people was he angered all of the RINOs that ran against him back in ‘06, which is perfectly fine by me. <<
Again, site specific examples please. I'm not in Idaho. HOW did he anger the other Republicans running against him? What did he do? What did they do to make them "RINOs" (besides endorse Minnick, and I highly doubt everyone running for the seat besides Sali issued an endorsement for Minnick). Are they pro-abortion, gun-grabbing, gay-friend, tax-and-spend, surrender the WOT types? Because that's MY definition of "RINO"
>> A few RINOs openly supported Minnick and Minnick did well enough in the major population center(s) in the district (Canyon County, western Ada, etc.) to get him the win. <<
Actually quite a few Republicans had to "cross over" and vote Dem for Congress in order for him to win this district, since Minnick will be the Dem with the most lopsided GOP district consituency of any Democrat Congressman. It has a GOP advantage of +19% in favor of the GOP. My guess is the only way Minnick won in a district like was he ran campaign ads and put out literature portraying himself as a Jesse Helms clone. Now we'll see if he lives up to it.
Minnick campaigned heavily on a “I’m going to protect your guns” slate. The difficulty with this is that Obama is almost certainly going to reenact the AWB and that even if he votes against it Minnick is going to take the heat for it as a Dem. I don’t think Minnick is going to be around for too long afterward. Not here. Just my $0.02.
My main problem with Tancredo is that he had the nasty habit of going to other states to criticize others in order to draw attention to himself on the immigration issue, when he should have looked after his own garden back in suburban Denver. Other than that, he was a fine congressman.
Well, one that stands out in my mind was during the 06 GOP Primary here. The Club For Growth decided to openly endorse Sali. In that time frame, CFG made the claim that Vasquez was a "tax and spend liberal" based on his tenure as Canyon County Commissioner. That, based on my own recollection, is the primary factor in what put Sali over the top in that race.
Again, site specific examples please. I'm not in Idaho. HOW did he anger the other Republicans running against him?
Sorry about that, I tend to get on a roll and forget that not everyone is from Idaho. :)
And of course I didn’t post the rest of what I was going to reply to. Again, sorry about that.
Basically what happened in the ‘06 Primary was that Club for Growth (which came into the race and backed Sali) got the credit for Sali’s primary victory and in turn his general election win in 2006. (This despite the fact that CFG is pro open border/illegal and Sali isn’t). Well, that annoyed a lot of people in the state GOP (I know Sheila Sorensen was one RINO that ran against him that whined about CFG’s endorsing of Sali), so suffice it to say he got started off on the wrong foot.
The “RINO” definition that you described would be how I would describe them also, especially Sorensen. I’m certain that EternalVigilance has his $.02 on this topic as well, since I barely got what I wanted to say out in two posts.
Funny story, my Dad was one fo Frank Church’s roommates at the University Idaho/Moscow law school.
My Dad was born and raised in American Falls, and his Dad was the switchmaster for the Boise trainyards for decades, but somehow Dad turned into a hard-core lib!
Oh well...ancient history!
Ed
Pardon?
“Sali frequently splits his vote with Congressman Mike Simpson. More than 60 times, Sali voted in the small minority opposed to a piece of legislation with wide bipartisan support, including support from fellow Idaho Republican Mike Simpson.”
That’s a reason listed to OPPOSE Sali according to Idaho rats.
I agree though of course he should not run again. An uncontroversial conservative is very likely to oust Minnick. Sali twice failed to crack 50% in a super Republican seat. Even in 2 bad years that ain’t cool. I don’t remember who came in 2nd and in 2006 (I hope not that RINO lady) but a primary runoff would have been of help here. He won with just a quarter of the vote in the primary. Must be 1 of lowest %s of any house member in their initial primary.
I’m inclined to like Vasquez unless there is someone clearly better.
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