After the Idaho Republican Party took the unusual step of passing a central committee resolution backing party involvement in non-partisan city races, one county's GOP central committee endorsed a challenger, Alex Creek, in a city council race in Idaho Falls; some party activists portrayed a Boise City Council race as partisan because one candidate, T.J. Thomson, was a key organizer for Barack Obama's Idaho campaign; and a non-official GOP group endorsed and campaigned for a city council challenger, Jim Brannon, against councilman Mike Kennedy in Coeur d'Alene. The result: Creek lost 2-1; Thomson won handily; and Kennedy won by five votes.

This morning, Idaho GOP Chairman Norm Semanko held a press conference call with reporters to "discuss the 2009 elections and what they mean for Idaho in 2010." But Semanko focused on the outcome of governor's races in Virginia and New Jersey, both of which were won by Republicans. "Americans soundly rejected the big-government policies of President Obama and the Democrats," Semanko said. "There's no other way to interpret the numbers." Republicans also lost a seat in Congress in a special election in New York, but Semanko dismissed that as a special case and a "non-story."

As for the Idaho races, Semanko said, "No. 1, they're nonpartisan races, so nobody had an elephant or a donkey next to their name, so it's really hard to even analyze it from that perspective. People were focused in different races on different local issues." He said the state party has responded to the central committee resolution by leaving any moves up to local county party organizations. "We would never jump in over the top of the local party and suggest what they should be doing," Semanko said.

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