(Kootenai County GOP Central Committee Chairwoman Tina) Jacobson is demanding the identity of one or more people she believes have accused her of a crime. Of particular displeasure to the county's Republican Party leader was this question, posed on Dave Oliveria's “Huckleberries” blog after Oliveria posted a photo that included Jacobson on a stage with other Republicans: “Is that the missing $10,000 in Kootenai County Central Committee funds actually stuffed inside Tina's blouse??? Let's not try to find out.” The Spokesman-Review's attorneys argue that the comment doesn't constitute a factual assertion that Jacobson stole any money - or even that any money had gone missing. But even if it did, our question is this: How damaging is an anonymous opinion stated on a blog that makes no claim to the information being accurate or even substantially true? If someone had spray-painted the same thing on a downtown wall, would Jacobson sue the building's owner? Because what's happened here is very much like graffiti; the comment may be eye-catching but it lacks credibility because nobody is owning up to it/Coeur d'Alene Press Editorial Board. More here.

Thoughts?

In the Kootenai County GOP precinct committeeman races, the Real Reagan Republicans split on two key races. President Ron Lahr won his race in Precinct No. 25 but former president Jeff Ward lost to Courtenay Ellison. I don't know the players all that well in the precinct committee races, other than Bjorn “Landslide” Handeen, who ran unopposed in my Precinct 52 and didn't get all the votes that he might have because the elections judges forgot to hand out the precinct ballots to about 50 of us (including me). Landslide Handeen still received 49 votes. You can see the complete precinct committeeman election results here.

Question: Who controls the Kootenai County GOP Central Committee — Real Reagan Republicans or United Conservatives of North Idaho?

COUNTY SHERIFF
 John Green .  .  .  .  .     3,450   27.09
 Keith Hutcheson  .  .  .     3,795   29.80
 Ben Wolfinger .  .  .  .     5,489   43.11

 PROSECUTING ATTORNEY
 Donald Gary.  .  .  .  .     4,517   37.31
 Barry McHugh  .  .  .  .     7,591   62.69

Question: What happened to the UCNI attempt to take control of law enforcement & the county prosecutor's office?

STATE REP LEG DIST 2 POS B

Phil Hart.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     1,746   31.20
Ed Morse .  .  .  .  .  .  .     1,984   35.45
Ron Vieselmeyer    .  .     1,116   19.94
Fritz Wiedenhoff .   .  .       751   13.42

Question: What does this mean for Phil Hart?

Clay Bennett/Chattanooga Times Free Press

Depending on how you're keeping score at home, more Reasonable Republican-backed candidates (8 1/2) won in North Idaho contested races than did those backed by the Reagan Republicans (7) or United Conservatives of North Idaho (3).

• Reasonables backed Shawn Keough, George Eskridge & Eric Anderson in District 1, Ed Morse in District 2, Frank Henderson in D3, Luke Malek in D4, and Dan Green, Barry McHugh & either Ben Wolfinger or Keith Hutcheson in county races.
• Reagan Republicans didn't endorse in District 1 races. They backed: Steve Vick & Ed Morse in D2, Henderson in D3, Malek in D4, and Tondee, Green and McHugh in courthouse races.
• UCNI backed Vick and Vito Barbieri in D2, and Ron Mendive in D3.

• Complete election results from SR election central here.

I'm back & ready to see which band of conservatives boot home the most winners tonight. The Very Very Conservative (United Conservatives of North Idaho). The Very Conservative (Reagan Republicans). Of the Conservative (Reasonable Republicans). We'll spend our time Wednesday cussing the Idaho Republican Party for inflicting on us the presidential caucus and closed primary. But tonight we see how extreme Kootenai County GOP voters were. I'll try to be here until the final results come in — or until I retire. Whichever comes first.

• Secretary of State's link to legislative results here
• Kootenai County Elections Department overall results here

Question: Any guesses re: the time the first results will be posted? (Feel free to use this thread for your Election Night comments, observations, etc.)

Commissioner Dan Green & his wife watch election results.

COUNTY COMMISSIONER DIST 1 (73 of 73 precincts)                   

          Vote for  1
           Gerald Arno.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .       233    1.91
           Marc Eberlein .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     4,262   34.92
           Tim Herzog .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     1,773   14.53
           Bruce Noble.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     1,389   11.38
           Todd Tondee.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     4,548   37.26

          COUNTY COMMISSIONER DIST 3
          Vote for  1
           Dan Green  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     5,517   45.07
           Vic Holmes .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     2,777   22.68
           Larry Spencer .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     3,948   32.25

          COUNTY SHERIFF
          Vote for  1
           John Green .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     3,450   27.09
           Keith Hutcheson  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     3,795   29.80
           Benton E. (Ben) Wolfinger .  .  .  .  .     5,489   43.11

          PROSECUTING ATTORNEY
          Vote for  1
           Donald Gary.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     4,517   37.31
           Barry McHugh  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     7,591   62.69

Left to right, Rick Currie, Ed Morse, & Paul Mathews. (Phantom Photographer photo) 

STATE SENATOR LEG DIST 2 (73 of 73 precincts)          
 
Vote for  1
           Mike Jorgenson.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     2,159   38.24
           Steve Vick .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     3,487   61.76

          STATE REP LEG DIST 2 POS A
          Vote for  1
           Vito Barbieri .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     3,147   57.01
           Mark D. Fisher.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     2,373   42.99

          STATE REP LEG DIST 2 POS B
          Vote for  1
           Phil Hart  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     1,746   31.20
           Ed Morse.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     1,984   35.45
           Ronald Ross Vieselmeyer.  .  .  .  .  .     1,116   19.94
           Fritz Wiedenhoff .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .       751   13.42

          STATE SENATOR LEG DIST 3
          Vote for  1
           Bob Nonini .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     3,161  100.00

          STATE REP LEG DIST 3 POS A
          Vote for  1
           Ron Mendive.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     1,667   50.14
           Jeff Tyler .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     1,658   49.86

          STATE REP LEG DIST 3 POS B
          Vote for  1
           Frank N. Henderson  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     1,926   55.57
           Jack Schroeder.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     1,540   44.43

          STATE SENATOR LEG DIST 4
          Vote for  1
           John W. Goedde.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     2,851  100.00

          STATE REP LEG DIST 4 POS A
          Vote for  1
           Jeff Ames  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     1,032   34.50
           Luke Malek .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     1,959   65.50

          STATE REP LEG DIST 4 POS B
          Vote for  1
           Kathleen Sims .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     2,628  100.00

PRECINCTS COUNTED (OF 73) .  .  .  .  .        73  100.00
           REGISTERED VOTERS - TOTAL .  .  .  .  .    69,803
           BALLOTS CAST - TOTAL.  .  .  .  .  .  .    14,811
           BALLOTS CAST - DEMOCRATIC .  .  .  .  .     1,305    8.81
           BALLOTS CAST - REPUBLICAN .  .  .  .  .    13,042   88.06
           BALLOTS CAST - NONPARTISAN.  .  .  .  .       464    3.13
           VOTER TURNOUT - TOTAL  .  .  .  .  .  .             21.22

All three incumbent legislators in the 1st District (Sen. Shawn Keough and Reps. George Eskridge & Eric Anderson) are clobbering their Tea Party opponents in the early going, according to the Bonner County Election Department. State Sen. Joyce Broadsword is 133 votes ahead of radical Bonner County Commissioner Cornel Rasor with 26 of 33 precincts counted. You can follow the results with this link here (26 of 33 precincts counted so far).

• KKKer Shaun Winkler now has 104 votes of 3161 cast (3.3%) in the Bonner County sheriff's race.
• 3 incumbent Legislative District 1 incumbents win big in Boundary County here.

A voter occupies a poling booth with a curious minor while casting a vote in the Idaho Primary Election today in Homedale. (AP Photo/Idaho Press-Tribune, Charlie Litchfield)

Question: Have you ever taken a child into the voting booth to show him/her what democracy is all about?

Coeur d'Alene resident Gary Olivieri voted at Woodland Middle School in Coeur d'Alene on Tuesday. Later in the day, a bomb scare temporarily closed down the two precincts voting at the school, Nos. 38 & 40. (SR photo: Kathy Plonka)

A bomb scare occurred at Precincts 38 & 40 (Woodland Middle School in Coeur d’Alene), after school was out for the day.   “The building was evacuated temporarily, and all ballots and ballot boxes were secured during the evacuation,” said Hayes.  Poll workers are setting up again in the gymnasium, and don’t anticipate delaying many voters.  “Any voter in line at 8:00PM will be allowed to vote”, said Hayes. At Precinct 52 in Coeur d’Alene, poll workers erred for much of the day by not distributing precinct committee ballots.  About 50 eligible Republican voters were affected by this oversight.  “We apologize to those voters, and to the candidate, Bjorn Handeen”, said Hayes.  Mr. Handeen is unopposed for the precinct committee position/Kootenai County clerk press release.

DFO: I was wondering later why I hadn't seen a race for my precinct committeeman. Now, I can tell Bjorn that I didn't vote for him because he wasn't on my ballot. I was one of the 50 affected. 

Coeur d'Alene Held Hostage, Day 42: I still have a few things to post before taking a break this afternoon, before beginning the long night of waiting for voter tallies to begin around 9:30-10. But I wanted to re-post this Wild Card while I work on the PM roundup, Parting Shot, etc. Interesting to note that another recording has surfaced indicating that Recallers may still be fibbing to get signatures. Now to re-post the Wild Card …

Facebook’s reach is wide but not deep. Few users surveyed in an Associated Press-CNBC poll say they click on the site’s ads or buy the virtual goods that make money for it. More than 40 percent of American adults log in to the site — to share news, personal observations, photos and more — at least once a week. In all, some 900 million people around the world are users. But many of them don’t have a very high opinion of Facebook or trust it to keep their information private. If Facebook the company were a Facebook user, it would have a lot of virtual friends but not many real ones, the poll suggested/Associated Press. More here.

Question: Do you ever look at or click on Facebook ads?

Michael Langohr, of Kalispell, Mont., paddles his way across Foys Lake on Monday afternoon, west of Kalispell. (AP Photo/Daily Inter Lake, Patrick Record)

• Ysursa predicts record low turnout/Dan Popkey/IS
• North Dakota passes Alaska in oil production/AP
• Settlement in Zehm civil suit reached/Thomas Clouse, SR
• Large amount of dynamite, gun powder found in Lewiston van/KREM
• Bayview man sentenced to life for hammer attack/Meghann Cuniff, SR
• Idaho reaches deal to boost prison medical care/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise

• 5:26 p.m. A possible “cold” sex offense is reported @ Landings Park on Long Meadow/CdA.
• 5:18 p.m. R/P from 101 N1st (Coeur d'Alene Resort area) reports unwanted person on property.
• 4:52 p.m. Male on Chateaux/Hayden reports being intentionally sprayed by rocks by motorcyclist.
• 4:39 p.m. R/P reports a suspicious package @ Woodland Middle School/CdA.
• 4:32 p.m. Caller wants to know who he can get off unflagged list @ Pawn 1.
• 4:26 p.m. Snap Fitness in 3200 block of Prairie/Hayden has additional info on a theft.
• 4:25 p.m. Fernan Lake Road resident wants deputy to check on possible prowler.
• 4:02 p.m. R/P reports dog being kept in vehicle at Hayden WalMart on Honeysuckle.
• 14 more items + AM Scanner Traffic link below

“Yesterday,” writes JeanC of JeanC's Cat House & Shooting Gallery, “I made tri-color quinoa cooked in turkey stock with dried wild mushrooms. After it was cooled I drizzled in some olive oil and a bit of sesame oil. I then added some sheep/goat milk feta and topped with fresh green onions. It was even better today for lunch.” More here.

• Mother's Day/A Butterfly Moment
• A little of anything: 'Dark Shadows'/Arch Druid
• Paul McCartney will be 70 this year/Atmospheric Ruminations
• Contrast between Obama & Romney on gay marriage/Dennis Mansfield
• Ann Romney & motherhood can't seem to win/Dogwalk Musings
• Renouncing my affiliation/Fort Boise
• This dang primary election/From A Simple Mind
• Fu-KI Japanese Steak House & Sushi Bar/Get Out! North Idaho
• Tired girl is tired/This Is Not A Fairy Tale
• It's Mother's Day/Nuts & Nonsense
• Coeur d'Alene of yesteryear/Rants, Raves & Random Thoughts
• Tuesday Twitterdeedum/Slight Detour
• Homemade pepperoni pockets/Stebbijo's Place
• Gaugin/Tumblewords
• The clubhouse turn/Writing North Idaho

HucksOnline numbers (for Monday): 10,893 page-views/6156 unique views

Nic reports in the comments section that he privately recorded an almost 12-minute conversation w/a RecallCDA vounteer & Mary Souza outside of the Woodland Middle School voting precinct earlier today. I've heard that recording. The volunteer told Nic that the McEuen Field upgrade cost was in the $35 million to $40 million range and could go as high as $80 million. The volunteer said he'd read an article Monday night that mentioned the $80 million figure (but couldn't recall where he'd read it). When Nic asked more questions, the volunteer turned to Mary, who he described as the “expert” and who had driven up in a vehicle full of balloons, according to Nic. Mary used the term “first phase” to describe the work now planned by the city for the McEuen Field upgrade. Souza said that the ultimate cost of the upgrade would be in the $40 million range (which was the high end of the range originally approved by the council but later reined in). Mayor Sandi Bloem and other council members targeted for recall by Mary's group have said repeatedly that the $14.2 million figure is all the city plans to spend on the overhaul (via Lake City Development Corporation money). Mary also provided a long tutorial for Nic re: how she believes the LCDC money for the park raises taxes throughout the city, using a bucket in a bathtub full of water to illustrate.

Thoughts?

Kootenai County Commissioner Todd Tondee was working the corner of Highway 95 & Appleway earlier today, trying to hang on to his county seat against a handful of rivals. (Phantom Photographer)