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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...

BOISE, Idaho. - The mayor of an eastern Idaho town where second- and third-grade students chanted "Assassinate Obama" after Barack Obama's Nov. 4 election victory has publicly apologized, saying there's no excuse for such comments. Rexburg Mayor Shawn Larsen wrote to local newspapers he was saddened by the notoriety his community had received over the incident. He received e-mails from as far away as Canada. Larsen told The Associated Press, "When people don't stand up and say, 'That's not appropriate, that's wrong, and those are hateful remarks,' it's almost like they are saying that it's an OK thing to do....

A national private property rights groups is urging its members to “deluge” Republican Sen. Mike Crapo’s office with calls and e-mails urging him to back off of the Senate bill that would protect wilderness and public land ranchers in Owyhee County. But Fred Grant, president of another national private property group and one of the leaders of the collaborative group that negotiated Crapo’s bill says the claims of the American Land Rights Association that Crapo has sold out private property rights “is not right or truthful.” The American Land Rights Association sent out an alert Monday urging its members to...

BOISE, Idaho — Democrat Walt Minnick has ousted Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Sali in the 1st Congressional District, scoring Idaho’s biggest political upset in more than a decade and adding an unexpected member to the House Democratic majority. Minnick won with just more than 50 percent, or about 3,700 votes, becoming the first Democrat from Idaho to win a congressional seat since Larry LaRocco in 1992.

Democratic candidate Walt Minnick leads Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Sali by a seven-to-five margin in one of the most telling polls of Idaho's 1st Congressional District race: a tally of the two rivals' personal firearms. Minnick owns seven guns: three pistols, a .22-caliber rifle, two Remington shotguns and a pellet gun he's used to teach his children to shoot. Sali, who in 2006 helped fight off an Army National Guard effort to restrict shooting in a Snake River raptor preserve, owns two shotguns and three rifles. Now Minnick and Sali are dueling over who would best stick up for 2nd...

A push by Idaho’s two senators to point out that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has become overly aggressive in enforcing gun laws could keep President Bush’s pick to head that agency from being confirmed under the current administration. Republican Sens. Larry Craig and Mike Crapo placed separate holds on the nomination of federal prosecutor Michael Sullivan, who has been the acting ATF director for more than two years. In that time, U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan has been consumed by that latest entry on his resume: acting chief of the ATF. The Republican has been balancing both...

- The Hon. Vern Bisterfeldt is a retired Boise City Police officer and as a Republican served multiple terms as an Ada County Commissioner. He is now a Boise City Councilor. - Pat Pettiette, is a former vice president at Washington Group International, and served as the project manager for a U.S. Department of Energy project. He is a past donor to President George Bush and U.S. Senator Mike Crapo.

I just received a phone call froma woman who announced herself as calling for "Idaho for Obama". I decided to listen to what she had to say as I had never had such a call before and I wanted to try and find out what she was really about. She said that they were calling to encourage everyone to vote this election and was I aware that in Idaho we could all vote by mail. I indicated that I would be voting at the polls since I was not needing to vote absentee and would be in town. She indicated...

BOISE - Barack Obama trails John McCain by 39 percentage points in the first Rasmussen telephone survey of Idaho voters. Rasmussen Reports currently gives McCain a 99. 9 percent chance of winning Idaho’s four electoral college votes in November.

Thursday, September 11, 2008 Email to a Friend Republicans in Idaho appear to have safely weathered the Larry Craig scandal, with the GOP candidate for his seat in the Senate ahead nearly two-to-one over his Democratic opponent. Jim Risch, Idaho’s current lieutenant governor, leads Larry LaRocco, a former congressman, 58% to 30% in the first Rasmussen Reports survey of voters in the state. Risch served briefly as governor in 2006 after the elected chief executive was appointed to President Bush’s Cabinet. Interestingly, Risch just defeated LaRocco in 2006 to be reelected lieutenant governor and also beat him 20 years earlier...

Don’t expect to see Barack Obama spending much time in the Republican stronghold of Idaho this fall. The Democratic presidential nominee trails John McCain by a staggering 68% to 29% in the first Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Idaho voters. McCain has the support of 96% of the state’s Republicans and 18% of Democrats. Obama is backed by 77% of Idaho Democrats and three percent (3%) of GOP voters. Unaffiliated voters give McCain the edge by a whopping 63% to 30%.

MCCAIN WELL AHEAD OF OBAMA IN IDAHO, RANKING THIRD IN SUPPORT ONLY BEHIND UTAH AND WYOMING McCain leads by a 52%-29% margin “if the election was held today”. Further, a sizable McCain lead remains regardless of region of residence within Idaho, age, gender, and years having lived in Idaho. Even among Democrats, 35% say they would vote for McCain. Idaho’s 23% lead lags only behind Utah (39%) and Wyoming (37%) in McCain support. Greg Smith & Associates will reveal the results of polling work done on Idaho’s U.S. Senate race between Jim Risch (R), Larry LaRocco (D), and Rex Rammell...

IDAHO. Governor Butch Otter (R) is hinting he may work behind the scenes to defeat bombastic freshman Congressman Bill Sali (R) in November.

SANDPOINT, Idaho — New Idaho Republican Chairman Norm Semanko takes over a party that dominates the state but threatened to burst at the seams at this weekend's convention, with disparate factions at odds over everything from tackling marijuana legalization to whether to close the state's GOP primary to all but registered party voters. Semanko ousted two-term incumbent Kirk Sullivan, who earlier Saturday had been endorsed by Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter. The tally was 227-169. A separate 199-192 vote among delegates in Sandpoint that supported retaining the state's open primary is indicative just how divided this convention was. That vote is...

John McCain has the Republican nomination wrapped up, but Ron Paul isn't going anywhere. In fact, in Tuesday's little-noticed Republican primary in Idaho, the iconoclastic Texas congressman had his best showing so far, grabbing 24 percent of the vote, nearly 30,000 votes in all. McCain won with 70 percent, while the other 6 percent went to uncommitted...

This is the link to the UNOFFICIAL Idaho Primary Election Night results.

When there’s trouble in Idaho for Republicans, you know they’re hurting everywhere. We’ve already seen the grassroots revolt in the works on the part of Paul supporters. But the fissures in the Idaho party run deeper. At the core of the party split is a fight over Idaho’s primary system between the state central committee and many elected officials. The battle came to a head this week, causing one Idaho observer to take note of the strong contrast between a united Democratic party in Idaho, and the Republican infighting [sub. required]: With Obama at the top of the ticket, Democrats...

Former Micron executive Larry Grant said Thursday morning that he will not run for the U.S. House in Idaho's 1st congressional district. Instead, Grant endorsed Walt Minnick, a former timber executive who ran for the U.S. Senate in 1996.

Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), encumbered by a scandal since last summer, did not file for reelection by his state’s deadline Friday, keeping a promise he made and officially marking the end of his congressional career. Craig’s political future has been in doubt since his arrest and guilty plea on disorderly conduct charges filed after an incident in a men’s restroom at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport last June. The three-term senator, who previously served five terms in the House, denied the charges that he solicited sex from an undercover police officer conducting a sting operation to crack down on alleged gay...

by Antenna Wilde As the GOP struggles to find it's "voice", the nation seems to have run off with Obama. Looking over the charts and numbers, I find it increasing difficult to come to any other conclusion. Not only is he mopping up the blue states, he seems to be doing as well—if not better—in the red ones. Take Idaho: huge victory for the GOP in 2004 (Bush won the state with 69%). And here's Obama sweeping Idaho on Super Tuesday with a stunning 80%... to Hillary Clinton's 17. While all of Hillary victories (except Arkansas) have been in the...