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Nov. 4, 2010 8:44 a.m. • 11 comments Idaho elected its first Hispanic to represent the state in Congress on Tuesday, as Raul Labrador upset freshman Democratic Rep. Walt Minnick with a decisive 51 percent to 41.3 percent victory. Labrador, a conservative Republican state lawmaker and immigration attorney, said he thought the “first” was significant because it sent a message to the nation about Idahoans. “People have such a bad connotation of what Idaho represents,” Labrador said, “a bad place, a racist place. I can’t think of a better message for Idaho to send than to send a young man...

BOISE, Idaho -- In an upset win in one of the most unusual House races in the country, underdog Republican Raul Labrador has won Idaho's 1st congressional district over the favored incumbent, Blue Dog Democrat Rep. Walt Minnick. At 12:55 a.m., Minnick conceded on Twitter. The Associated Press in Boise called the race for Labrador minutes later. In a statement Wednesday, Minnick said he phoned Labrador and "wished him every success... I, in particular hope he can be successful in working with the administration and his colleagues of both parties in the exceedingly important task ahead of putting our country...

The Tea Party Express, one of the national voices of the Tea Party movement, created some political shockwaves when it endorsed Democrat Walt Minnick for re-election earlier this year, the only Democrat the group threw its support behind. Now the group is coming under fire for racial content in a recent fictional letter penned by its spokesman. The man responsible for the letter says it was meant to provoke discussion after the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) condemned elements of the Tea Party movement as racist. Minnick sent a letter Monday condemning the Tea Party Express...

SNIPPET: "The Tea Party Express's endorsement of Rep. Walt Minnick (D-Idaho) has had little real political impact so far. After the endorsement, TPE's Sal Russo couldn't tell when we might see, say, a TV ad or mailer for Minnick -- although Mark Williams claimed that the group had planned to run ads supportive of Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) until he decided to support the final version of health-care reform. So what impact have we seen? A vast and efficient cheesing-off of tea party groups in Idaho."

WASHINGTON - The most influential national tea party group, backed by a $3 million campaign war chest, surprised Idahoans by endorsing freshman Rep. Walt Minnick's re-election bid. Not all local tea partyers were pleased. Minnick is the only Democrat in the nation to land an endorsement from the Tea Party Express, the most prominent national organization in the burgeoning political movement. -- SNIP -- "We don't know where the national tea party came up with the endorsement of Walt Minnick," said Russ Smerz of Tea Party Boise. "It's a little concerning to us that Tea Party Express would endorse someone...

SNIPPET: "The leadership of the Tea Party Express PAC came to the National Press Club on Thursday to herald its early successes and to unveil its expanded list of 2010 electoral targets." SNIPPET: "In an effort to show that the Tea Party Express PAC is not a “tool” of the Republican Party, but instead is an independent political force, Russo announced that the PAC is getting behind one conservative Democrat who has opposed President Obama’s agenda: Rep. Walt Minnick (ID-01). The decision to get behind Minnick is attention-grabbing because Republicans have fielded a strong candidate in that race: Iraq war...

Blue Dog Democrats Heath Shuler of North Carolina and Walt Minnick of my state of Idaho have been metaphorically neutered by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and now like all blue dog Democrats are obediently lining up behind Nancy Pelosi with their tails tucked between their legs to turn America into a socialist, welfare, nanny state.It is unfortunate and surprising that a quarterback like Heath Shuler would become a liberal pawn as most quarterbacks that go into politics become conservative republicans like J.C. Watts, Lynn Swan, and the late, great Jack Kemp. It is surprising to me because it has been...

Rep. Walt Minnick (D-ID) decided to reverse engineer the Obama-Pelosi-Reid Porkulus Bill to see if he could find anything worth rescuing. In doing so, Minnick devised a stimulus plan that limits itself to real stimulus, rather than bloating itself into an omnibus pork package. It costs only $170 billion, and self-terminates when the economy recovers:

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.

- 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.

Item: Minnick condemns Sali for voting against bill crucial to rural Idaho More Info: The House on Thursday rejected a bill that would have continued for four years payments to rural counties hurt by federal cutbacks in logging. A majority of lawmakers voted for the bill, but under special House rules, the bill was defeated. Supporters brought up the measure under rules that did not allow any amendments. The 218-193 vote in favor — largely along party lines — was well short of the two-thirds needed. The bill's sponsor, Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., denounced Republicans who voted against the bill,...

Press Release By John Foster - May 06, 2008 Walt Minnick today offered Idaho drivers low-cost gasoline to call attention to the abject failure of Washington, D.C. to address our nation’s energy crisis. He also slammed Bill Sali for his cozy relationship with “big oil.” “For one hour today, while I’m talking to Idahoans about the high cost of gasoline, Bill Sali will sit down to lunch at a fundraiser and ask for money from oil lobbyists,” Minnick said. “In 18 months he’s become a true Washington insider. What Idaho needs is a new approach and some simple fairness.” Oil...