Idaho Congressman Raul Labrador, chairman of the state GOP convention that failed spectacularly today to unite the party and instead broke up in total discord, told Melissa Davlin of Idaho Reports, “For three weeks I’ve tried to broker a deal to prevent what happened today.“ But he failed.

Labrador said he worked with all three people who were running for party chairman, and he worked with people from both factions within the Idaho Republican Party, the libertarian/tea party faction, with which he’s most closely identified, and the more establishment faction that’s identified with GOP Gov. Butch Otter. Labrador told Davlin that at this point, he can’t think of anything he would have done differently, and he believes people just need to walk away and cool down.

Reported Davlin, “Both sides were just so fed up – they were done.” She noted, “Yesterday it was more angry, today it was frustrated and fed-up and incredulous. There was a difference. … They had been through hours of parliamentary procedures and confusion over rules and all of these things, and they still weren’t getting anywhere.” She added, “I heard people on both sides say that this is the last time they’re going to come to a state convention.”

---

---