I posted a diary on the Idaho Republican's extreme convention planks the other day. it didn't take very long for the dissention to begin...
Idaho's Republican party leadership, and many of their delegates, have been Shanghaied by the teabaggers and the Ron Paul fans, it seems. Statewide, many of the senior party loyalists, who have done heavy lifting for years in their local Committees, have been thrown under the bus, and aren't at all happy about it.
Their recent convention produced some very odd and divisive stuff, including a call to repeal the 17th Amendment, which changed the way the Senators were selected from state legislatures to a popular vote by the people.
Another called for a party loyalty oath, requiring all candidates to swear to abide by the party's resolutions and planks.
These two are the first to start the fight between the moderates and the far right.
One of the ousted long-time local party leaders here is a relative of mine through marriage, and we talked just yesterday.
She's very typical of the most of the loyal Repub voters in this area- she's a True Blue Mormon, conservative and moderate by nature, and has a lot of common sense. I was very curious to hear her thoughts on the party vs. the voters, and she pretty much validated my belief that the party has moved too far past where the a lot of the Republican voters are willing to go.
She's not very popular with her fellow party members at the moment, because she endorsed the Democratic candidate for Governor, Keith Allred after she got the boot. She said she's probably a leper now, but isn't afraid to speak out, and she sure has been speaking out a lot lately.
It didn't take long for some validating evidence to show up as to what the most powerful of the Old Guard Republicans think.
Mike Simpson, the 1st District Representative, flatly refused to sign any loyalty oath. He said the oath he follows is the one he made when he was elected to the House, and will swear to no other.
Simpson is Idaho's senior Representative, and may be Idaho's most popular politican; he has always been elected by wide margins, has a solid reputation as being responsive to the people in his district, and in bringing jobs to Idaho. He beat five contenders easily in the primary, without spending any money, and never broke a sweat.
Both Senators, Crapo and Risch, strongly denounced the Amendment repeal. Both said they believe it to be a big mistake. As far as I know, neither has come out yet against the loyalty oath, but denouncing the repeal plank is pretty good evidence they won't sign it, as the oath is an all-or-nothing deal.
Another occurrence: One of the state Representatives, Phil Hart, currently is refusing to pay state and federal taxes, and is tangled up in a lawsuit over non-payment. He owes about $75,000 to the state and about $300,000 to the Feds. Until this week, State House Speaker Denny ignored all mention of censuring or calls for resignation, and Hart is on the Taxation Committee! Denny was finally forced to order an inquiry commission after a Democratic Representative put forth a formal motion to investigate.
All of this happened over this week.
It is too soon to predict any mutiny in the ranks, but it appears the State party chairman, Ron Semanko and the teabagging conventioneers may have gone too far. I didn't think the refusals would come this early, and be so many.
Unfortunately, this isn't going to help the Democrats much on the down-party tickets. There are still far too few running for local, county, and state offices, and there are entirely too many Republican contenders who are running un-opposed. Idahoans aren't happy with Obama or the Democratic leadership in Washington, and the teabag rage is far from burnt out here, and I see no change happening soon in this.
It is possible, though, that we may see a change in the Governor's office, and I think it's probable that the two incumbent Representatives, Simpson in the 1st district and Walt Minnick, a blue dog Dem in the 2nd, will be re-elected. If the stars align after November, Idaho Democrats may have a chance at re-building the party throughout 2011, in time for the 2012 campaign. I sure hope it will happen.