Markos Moulitsas brought the Idaho Democrats to their feet at the Boise, Idaho Frank Church Dinner March 1, 2008 saying the country will look to Idaho, not for cheap bathroom jokes but for an election result that is proof that it will not be a Republican stronghold forever. He said Idaho Democrats can prove to DC and to Democratic naysayers that incremental and progressive change is happening and can happen in one of the most Repubican states in America.
Markos set out the facts to support his conclusions about Idaho being ready for a change from an all Republican state. The fact that when Al Gore came to Idaho that the 1,000 seat auditorium sold out in minutes and the move to the 10,000 seat arena resulted in a sell out in 5 hours, was a signal of change in Idaho. The overflow crowd of over 14,000 for Obama's visit to Boise and over 21,000 people at the caucus, a 400% increase over 2004 and 1000% increase over 2000, showed the people of Idaho are ready for change.
Markos said Larry Grant's run last time for the First Congressional District and his almost winning with the help of the netroots shows Idaho can elect a Democrat to Congress again and there is no such thing as a safe Republican seat. He noted that because of the strong race, the Republican party sent Vice President Dick Cheney to Idaho to campaign, and the Grant race caused the Republicans to divert money from other states to Idaho.(Larry Grant spoke before Markos and showed a video to the tune of "American the Beautiful". See www.grantforcongress.com)
The last federal office holder in Idaho was Larry LaRocco who won that Congressional seat in 1992, Markos noted. Markos called LaRocco a "true fighting Democrat and future Senator." (LaRocco was the first candidate to speak in at the banquet and is running for the Senate seat now held by Larry Craig. www.laroccoforsenate.com)
Markos started out the evening by successfully bidding on a polyester plaid 1950's style sport coat of former Governor and Secretary of Interior Cecil Andrus who donated it for an auction. Markos wore the plaid sportcoat for his speech and "loaned" it to the two congressional candidates, Larry Grant and Walt Minnick running in a primary for the First Congressional District, when they spoke, much to the delight of the audience and Andrus, who was in the audience.
Markos honored the memory of the late Senator Frank Church, for, among other things, his protection of the civil liberties of all Americans with the development and passage of FISA because the nation needed to have oversight over the National Security Agency and government monitoring of communications. He said the present administration cares more about protecting the telecome industry than protecting the rights of the people of America.
Markos, in closing, said he was in awe of the Democrats in Idaho, Montana, Utah and Colorado who put Obama and Clinton bumperstickers on their cars and trucks, Democratic yard signs in their yards and spoke up in community meetings. He congratulated those who were leading the fight to continue to bring progressive change to Idaho and said it was proof of the 50 state strategy of Howard Dean. The actions of Idaho Democrats mean that the Republican stronghold in Idaho will not be forever.