Spokane7
68°Quick links: 2012 graduating seniors • Summer camp guide • Jobs: The Road Ahead • Prep sports • News quiz
Idaho gubernatorial candidate Rex Rammell will be mixing what he calls doctrines from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints into his gubernatorial campaign in a series of meetings slated for LDS elders only. In January, Rammell will kick off a series of special meetings targeted specifically at “faithful priesthood-holders of the LDS Church” to discuss the so-called “White Horse” prophecy. “There is nothing secret about the meeting — it’s just the sacred nature of the things we will be talking about,” said Rammell. “We are going to talk about (LDS Church founder) Joseph Smith’s prophecy that the Constitution will be hanging by a thread and that the Latter-day Saint elders will step forward and save it”/Rexburg Standard Journal. More here.
Question: Anyone out there still insist that Rammell is a legitimate contender for governor?
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.
999 W. Riverside, Spokane, WA 99201
P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210
Main switchboard: (509) 459-5000 • (800) 338-8801
Newsroom: (509) 459-5400 • (800) 789-0029
Customer service: (800) 338-8801
© Copyright 2012, The Spokesman-Review
Terms of use • Privacy policy • Copyright policy
Find DFO on Facebook
DFO on Twitter
Smacky on December 22 at 1:28 p.m.
He’s the fulfillment of the LDS prophecy and will save the world! Which, unfortunately, means that millions of people will have to die, other religions will have to surrender to the LDS faith and all the women will have to marry Rex. Ok, that last one isn’t true….
scootermom on December 22 at 1:52 p.m.
Now he thinks he’s some kind of savior? Oh, dear. He used to just be funny. Now he’s crossing into the could be scary category.
Laughing on December 22 at 2:00 p.m.
No.
nic on December 22 at 2:24 p.m.
And after he’s done with the LDS elders, he’s going to repark his bus to commune with his people again.
http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/
Charles_Dixon on December 22 at 2:29 p.m.
This is pathetic. Only around 25% of Idahoans are Mormon, and I don’t believe very many of those Idaho Mormons will think kindly of what Rammell is trying to do here. I’d be surprised if he got more than a few dozen of them to these meetings.
It begs the question of whether Rammell is honestly trying to get elected to a statewide office, or whether he just wants to set himself up as some sort of celebrity within the Mormon church in Idaho.
I don’t think Rammell’s campaign can see the point where it jumped the shark in its rear view mirror anymore.
danofthecommunity on December 22 at 2:32 p.m.
I don’t know anything about this but we thought it was kind of odd that his big bus was parked on a side street in Post Falls last weekend.
Not sure if it’s still there but we noticed it both Saturday and Sunday when we were going to events at our church. It was parked along the fence where all the school buses are.
Sisyphus on December 22 at 2:39 p.m.
Agreed scooter. A while back he was marketing some book or other publication that was a significant melding of politics and Mormonism. The church publicly professes neutrality on most things political and certainly they’re much more sensitive to the these concerns than they used to be. Preserving the tax exemption is a concern for any church. But I expect this latest charade by Rammell will be met with much disapproval. His self destruction is becoming as painful as it is slow.
But what makes this interesting is how it relates to the gubernatorial race. Butch has had some significant softness in his LDS support. His tight jeans/ whiskey drinking persona doesn’t sit too well with the blue hairs in the Relief Society. Clearly Rammell lacks the facilities to exploit this, but I’m pretty damn sure Allred can.
scootermom on December 22 at 3:01 p.m.
The more I think about this, the stranger it gets. This is not going to go over well, at all, with non LDS or women voters.
Please, only the old white men get to learn about the secret unicorn that Rammel hopes to unleash against Butch. Women can learn about it from their husbands - they aren’t “sacred” enough to attend.
This isn’t outreach. This is a slap in the face.
Charles_Dixon on December 22 at 3:04 p.m.
I’m interested to see what Allred does in terms of trying to pick up LDS support. I remember very clearly Larry Echohawk’s 1994 campaign for governor. He was the last solid LDS democratic candidate for governor in this state, and though he led in the polls leading up to election day he lost handily to Batt, largely due (I think) to the nationwide resurgence of the GOP that year and the Clinton backlash.
I remember talking to a Mormon in Southeast Idaho after the election about why Echohawk lost. He brought up the fact that Echohawk had done a luncheon with some of the LDS church leaders in Salt Lake City during the campaign, and that this didn’t sit well with some of the LDS Republicans in SE Idaho. Of course this didn’t make sense as a reason for an Idaho Mormon to vote against Echohawk, but it did make sense in that it was consistent with how many SE Idaho Mormons think. They just needed some excuse to vote the GOP over their religion, and where that SLC luncheon hadn’t gone over well with many people in the state this gave some GOP’ers a reason to vote against him.
2010 may be a better year than 1994 for a Democratic candidate for governor to court the LDS vote, but it will always be a tricky proposition. Allred is going to have to come up with a platform and a voice that speaks to everyone. He’s going to have to act like a Republican in some ways or he’s not going to get the SE Idaho vote. Minnick is having to act like a Republican to keep his spot in Northern Idaho, and Minnick would never get elected in the second district even today.
Lizard_People on December 22 at 3:20 p.m.
How is this that much different than meetings with bizarre Afro-centric christian leaders? Please note, I’m not against bizarre Afro-centric Christians, and I’m not particularly for LDS candidates, but c’mon, why the need to be incindiary?
“Still think hooby dooby doo??!?” that’s just sheer Oliveriaism.
spokelooneh on December 22 at 3:25 p.m.
What if Rammell runs as an independent or 3rd party candidate in the general? Who will he siphon off more votes from, Butch or Allred?
After all, he pulled 5.4% of the vote in the Senate race, and Otter beat Brady getting less than 53% of the vote.
Rammell seems narcissistic enough to play the spoiler.
MamaJD on December 22 at 5:38 p.m.
What gets me the most is that there’s limited space so women weren’t invited!!!! UNBELIEVABLE. I’m amazed that this guy thinks he can get the kind of base needed to win. AND I’m ticked that this guy has touched a nerve in me that I rarely, and I mean rarely, ever see as he has unleashed my inner Feminist. Rex Rammell: HEAR ME ROAR. I will tell every single woman I know that you think when there is limited space, the men get the priority. Pshawww.
ShoshoneConservative on December 23 at 9:39 a.m.
Rammell’s obviously trying to build a Mormon voting block. However, the problem with that is (1) not every voter in Idaho is Mormon; (2) not every Mormon is a Republican; and, of course (3) not all Mormons have a problem with Otter.
Sisyphus on December 23 at 10:09 a.m.
LOL mama. You’d end up excommunicated for sure. They purged their female intelligentsia in the early nineties. Don’t want your pretty little heads worrying too much about man stuff. A woman’s purpose is to be a vessel. If you’re good and obedient you might get invited to the highest level of heaven, but you can only get there through your husband.
Like it or not ShoCon they are a block and a formidable one, probably the most monolithic voting block in the state. There was a time Democrats could pull 40% of that vote but that hasn’t been the case for more than a decade. And I strongly agree that not all Mormons have a problem with Otter. But enough of them do. And its only one of many factors. Larry Echohawk couldn’t translate his religion in for votes mostly cause he wasn’t a very good campaigner.
Spoke, Rammell’s only goal seems to be the one of spoiler. But Allred has much more potential to break the monolith than Rammell. Rammell was booed when he announced his candidacy for governor in SE Idaho. Playing the religion card like this just shows his desperation and its lost on no one. He’ll get no where with the church.