As reactions to Gov. Butch Otter's State of the State and budget message continue to ripple across the state, the Senate majority leadership this afternoon sent out a press release reacting to the House and Senate Democrats' comments at a press conference this morning in which the minority sharply criticized Otter's approach. "The statements and remarks of the opposition were contradictory, reckless and amounted to little more than nay-saying today," said Senate Majority Caucus Chairman Russ Fulcher, R-Meridian; you can read the majority leadership's full release here.

Also today, GOP gubernatorial candidate Rex Rammell held a press conference to offer his approach, releasing a paper entitled "The Rammell Plan" calling for eliminating the state's personal and corporate income taxes, removing all state control of public schools and turning management over to local school districts, and turning over any assistance for the "poor and unfortunate" to private charities. Meanwhile, the Idaho AARP sent out its reaction piece yesterday, saying Otter's address "held both promise and problems;" a group of nonprofits corralled by United Vision for Idaho watched the speech and sent out a press release criticizing what it called "advantage to the 'haves' at the expense of the 'have nots,'” while calling on Otter and the Legislature to "open their doors and their minds to our organizations, to listen to different approaches, and to work with us for the common good." And independent gubernatorial candidate Jana Kemp has sent out several releases in reaction to Otter's speech; here's her point-by-point analysis issued last night.