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An outspoken Idaho county commissioner is getting a two-year head start on his bid for U.S. Senate. Canyon County Commissioner Robert Vasquez, known for his battles against illegal immigration, announced Wednesday that he would be challenging fellow Republican U.S. Sen. Larry Craig in the 2008 election. Vasquez said he was taking on Craig — now in his third term as a U.S. senator — in part because of Craig's stance on immigration reform. Vasquez also said he needed to start early to raise enough money to take on Craig. "It's going to take at least a year to try to...

Former Canyon County Commissioner Robert Vasquez said he is pulling out of the 2008 race for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Larry Craig. Vasquez told the Idaho Statesman Wednesday that he was not able to raise the money necessary to run in the GOP primary after conservative Republicans who pledged to support him pulled their financial backing. "One needs to either sell their soul to win the campaign or have ready access to ample funds," Vasquez told the Statesman. "I'm not a rich guy; I'm just an average Joe." Vasquez has been working full-time on his Senate bid,...

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Hundreds of illegal immigration opponents rallied in Las Vegas and pledged to fight a Senate plan that legalizes undocumented Mexicans in the U.S. The two-day Unite to Fight Summit II, which ended Sunday, drew about 350 activists from across the nation. "This is aimed at getting everyone on the same page," said organizer Mark Edwards, a local radio show host and founder of the Wake Up America Foundation. "You have to try new tactics and see what works." Outside the Cashman Theatre, about 100 protesters carried U.S. flags and shouted "Racists go home." Inside, activists stressed...

Voters in Idaho head to the polls Tuesday for a primary that includes a congressional bid by a commissioner who once sought to have his county declared a disaster area because of an influx of illegal immigrants. In the nation's only other primary, former Clinton administration official Bill Halter faces three Democratic opponents in the Arkansas lieutenant governor's race. In Idaho, Canyon County Commissioner Robert Vasquez, who is the grandson of Mexican immigrants, also tried to bill the Mexican government $2 million for public services to immigrants and filed an unsuccessful lawsuit accusing employers of conspiring to hire illegal workers.

There's an anti-immigration crusader who's raised eyebrows across the country. A state representative reviled by his own party leaders but backed by out-of-state conservatives. An elected state official who jokes that as a CPA, he has a "license to be boring." One thing not lacking from the lively race for North Idaho's seat in Congress this spring: Choices. Six Republicans are facing off for the GOP nomination, and two Democrats are vying for their party's nod. The prize – an open congressional seat – will go to the winner in November, when the two major-party primary victors will be joined...

The six-way race to win the Republican nomination in Idaho’s 1st Congressional District has turned into a full-fledged family feud, fraught with intraparty tensions and resentments.

BOISE, Idaho -- A congressional candidate and vocal critic of illegal immigration was led away by security personnel after an argument developed during an immigrant rights protest by more than 5,000 people. Traffic through the downtown area was snarled Sunday afternoon as protesters, most of them Hispanic, carried U.S. and Mexican flags on a march from Julia Davis Park down Capitol Boulevard to the Statehouse to protest a proposed overhaul of immigration laws Lucio Prado, a radio host for Idaho Jazz Station's Radio Universidad, said that America has become less tolerant of the kind of immigration that helped build the...

The closest thing to excitable political talk in Idaho politics at present concerns the most mid-open race for a major office in some years - more than a decade at least. While the Republican lock on Idaho's 1st congressional district looks as solid as ever, there is no certainty about who will be the next Republican nominee in the district, with that crucial primary election little more that a year ahead. Plenty of advance work and calculations are underway, to be sure. Republican C.L. "Butch: Otter, representative here since 2001 and easily re-electable had he so chosen, seems unlikely to...

Vasquez for Idaho is pleased to announce the immediate opening of campaign headquarters! Our office is located at 1505 Industrial Way in Caldwell. Map >> Please join Robert and the Vasquez for Idaho Staff at a special "Open House" on Saturday, December 17th from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. We'll have refreshements throughout the day! So take a break from your holiday shopping and come by and see us!

Lupe Moreno knows the immigrant struggle. She has lived all her life in Santa Ana, a gateway community for Mexican immigrants. Her father helped smuggle them into the country; her former husband sneaked in illegally. Now Moreno is part of the growing movement to stem the flow of illegal immigration. "I want people to know that there are Latinos who are law-abiding," she said. "We need to protect our borders." Although polls suggest that the majority of Latinos are sympathetic to illegal immigrants once they have settled in the United States, opinions vary by generation, home country, economic class and...

Here are some "after action" photos from tonight's Immigration Rally in Carlsbad. 300 Police and Sheriff Deputies lined the streets and sidewalks.A mix of anti-anti-illegal immigration, anti war, anti-Tancredo, anti-bombing Mecca crowd. Because we're talking about nuking the border?!I love the "No One is ILLEGAL" sign.  Cop-killers, rapists, drug-runners... all legal?!"Hey, where the white women?" (Blazing Saddles)The woman holding up the JG is a terrorist sign was wearing a complete face mask.Here's one of the good guys... just holding up the flag of the country we're all in.  The best quiet protester of all!Ten or more News trucks lined the...

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Faced with the costs of coping with illegal immigrants, one county is looking to the courts for help - by filing a racketeering lawsuit against the businesses that hire these workers. The legal theory: that a pattern of immigration violations by employers is costing Canyon County millions for law enforcement, education and social services. "Their presence lowers the labor wage for American citizens and removes employment opportunities," county Commissioner Robert Vasquez, an ambitious politician who just started a bid for Congress, said of the illegal workers. "Certainly it uses tax dollars to provide them with educational...

BOISE, Idaho -- Faced with the costs of coping with illegal immigrants, one county is looking to the courts for help -- by filing a racketeering lawsuit against the businesses that hire these workers. The legal theory: that a pattern of immigration violations by employers is costing Canyon County millions for law enforcement, education and social services. "Their presence lowers the labor wage for American citizens and removes employment opportunities," county Commissioner Robert Vasquez, an ambitious politician who just started a bid for Congress, said of the illegal workers. "Certainly it uses tax dollars to provide them with educational services,...

Canyon County Commissioner Robert Vasquez entered the race for Congress this month in characteristically provocative fashion, making the announcement at a Mexican restaurant that shares a building with the Idaho Migrant Council -- one of his more vocal opponents. ''My people -- as I'm often accused of turning my back on them -- my people are American. I've got an American flag hanging in my office, not the Mexican chicken-and-worm or whatever it is,'' Vasquez said in a swipe at the eagle-and-snake emblem on the Mexican flag.

Canyon County Commissioner and anti-immigration pundit Robert Vasquez announced on June 10 his intention to run for Butch Otter's soon-to-be-vacant U.S. Congressional seat, joining a small handful of Republicans who have expressed interest in the position. The difference between Vasquez and these others is that he only speaks about a single issue: illegal aliens. Most recently, he strong-armed Canyon County into hiring a lawyer to pursue litigation of any businesses found to employ immigrants, although Vasquez prefers different terminology. As he told the Idaho Press-Tribune earlier this year, "That would be like saying Hitler's army marching into Poland was merely...

CALDWELL, IDAHO -- An outspoken man with no political experience wins a seat on the board of commissioners in Canyon County, a rural slice of Idaho known for potatoes, beets and onions. After he takes office, Robert Vasquez calls undocumented immigrants "illegal aliens," likens the growing number to an "unarmed Mexican invasion" and sends the government of Mexico a $2 million bill. Only in Idaho, right? Wrong. A movement to reform immigration laws, a movement nationwide, is struggling in this corner of Idaho, on Oregon's eastern border, where some residents fear the effort threatens a return to the state's racially...

CALDWELL -- Canyon County Commissioner Robert Vasquez announced today that he is running for Congress in 2006. The Caldwell Republican vowed to do all he can to defend our nation’s borders from illegal immigrants. “How can our federal representatives strive to grant amnesty to illegal aliens, while asking our young men and women to secure a foreign border, but ignoring ours, and allowing millions of illegal aliens to enter literally at will,” Vasquez said. Vasquez stated he does not want to see Idaho become like California and Arizona. “Those who are aware of the illegal aliens overwhelming the medical and...

CALDWELL, Idaho - On Idaho's leading conservative talk-radio station, Robert Vasquez is a hero: one of the few politicians to tell it straight. Vasquez, 55, a Republican county commissioner and Mexican-American in a part of the country where Latinos are ascendant, has been on a crusade against illegal immigration -- what he calls "an imminent invasion" from south of the border. Vasquez has tried to get Canyon County declared a disaster area because of the strain from illegal immigrants. He has also sent a bill to the Mexican government for more than $2 million. That is the cost, he said,...

To hear people who call into Idaho's leading conservative Talk radio station, Roberto Vasquez is a hero: one of the few politicians to tell it straight.Vasquez, 55, a Republican county commissioner and Mexican-American in part of the country where hispanics are ascendant, has been on a crusade against illegal immigration - what he calls an "imminent invasion" from south of the border.Vasquez has tried to get Canyon County declared a disaster area because of the strain from illegal immigrants. He has also sent a bill to the Mexican government for more than $2 million, that is the cost, he said,...

To hear people who call into Idaho's leading conservative talk radio station, Robert Vasquez is a hero: one of the few politicians to tell it straight. Mr. Vasquez, a Republican county commissioner and Mexican-American in a region where Latinos are ascendant, has been on a crusade against illegal immigration, what he calls "an imminent invasion" from south of the border. Mr. Vasquez has tried to have Canyon County declared a disaster area because of the strain from illegal immigrants. He has also sent a bill to the Mexican government for more than $2 million; that is the cost, he said,...