Huckleberries Online

DOTC: Hard To Be Dem In Red Country

Posted by DFO

Dec. 19, 2009 6:10 a.m. • 7 comments

Dan Of The County: I was very impressed with (Keith Allred, who spoke at Kootenai County Demo Club lunch Friday) and his approach. More than many folks, I know what it means to run as well as win with a “Blue D” after your name in very red places. You certainly can’t win by only appealing to (or being appealing to) just Democrats. You have to be able to work with Republicans and Independents. They must trust you and experience that you treat them with respect and treat their viewpoints as just as legitimate as yours even when you have mutual disagreements. That’s the approach he appears to be taking and yet he drew some clear, even sharp, distinctions about how his approach to governance would differ from current practice.

Question: Which politician, at any level or any party, best typifies what a politician should be? Why?

On point one; yes I did have a shrimp cocktail, good for the protein thing.

Two, I was very impressed with him and his approach. More than many folks, I know what it means to run as well as win with a “Blue D” after your name in very red places. You certainly can’t win by only appealing to (or being appealing to) just Democrats.

You have to be able to work with Republicans and Independents. They must trust you and experience that you treat them with respect and treat their viewpoints as just as legitimate as yours even when you have mutual disagreements.

That’s the approach he appears to be taking and yet he drew some clear, even sharp, distinctions about how his approach to governance would differ from current practice.

I noted Dan Gookin there as well and had hoped to catch him before he left (I didn’t) to see what his take was, particularly in response to Allred’s emphasis on the wisdom of the founding fathers and their admonitions to avoid special interests vs. the interests of the broad scope of citizens.

I obviously enjoyed it and think this election will likely be much more engaging than any we’ve seen for some time.

Seven comments on this post so far. Add yours!

Don_Sausser on December 19 at 7:24 a.m.
Dan of the County: “You have to be able to work with Republicans and Independents. They must trust you and experience that you treat them with respect and treat their viewpoints as just as legitimate as yours even when you have mutual disagreements.”

His quote is why he is successfully re-elected in this red area. But this amenity will be diminished if a local office holder becomes too noisy in the coarse dialogue of State or national elections where partisanship is the game.
danofthecommunity on December 19 at 8:56 a.m.
Agreed Don. Which is why I keep a deliberately low profile even for my own party’s candidates. I don’t even put up their yard signs since I’m also the guy who oversees the counting of votes.

However when asked directly for an overview of what I thought about him as in this case I tried to do so. I am clearly a member of the Democrat Party and don’t try to hide that or want to hide that but I also try to do the best I can not to act in an overly partisan manner, especially in a position like the county clerk. It can be a bit of a balancing act for sure.
hhuseland on December 19 at 12:57 p.m.
I think DOTC said it well. It’s called mutual respect. Minnick had it and got elected. Now he is in essence running against the liberal dems who feel betrayed. Some more radical politicians, right or left, can’t handle compromise or appealing to moderates even though many of us on both sides would love to see our respective parties nudged toward the center, some.
hhuseland on December 19 at 1:00 p.m.
Along those same lines, look at Lieberman. A long time democrat that was caught up in inter-arty squabbles to the extent that the liberal leaders tried to kick him out of office. The electorate obviously din’t feel the same as the party activists. This disparity between the general public and the party power blocks that tend to be more extreme, is an ongoing problem.
spokelooneh on December 19 at 2:11 p.m.
Joe Lieberman is a serial liar, and hasn’t been “a long time Democrat” for over three years now.

Several times, (usually while campaigning, i.e. grovelling for votes) he has explicitly said he favored expanding Medicaid by raising the income eligibility ceilings, and expand Medicare by letting individuals 55-64 to buy into the program.

Just three months ago he advocated this very same thing.

A week ago or so, when the Senate Dems proposed the EXACT same thing Lieberman had proposed for years, he withdrew support and said he would not vote for any plan that expanded Medicare and Medicaid.

He has recently said that in the future he may run as a Republican.

He should be kicked to the curb by the Dems and made a persona-non-grata from a political point of view.
JamesBond on December 19 at 5:04 p.m.
Sarah Palin!!!

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.