Butch Otter emerges from the worst session of the Idaho Legislature in decades still governor, but not leader of his party. Most of his fellow Republicans brushed him off like so much dandruff on their lapels, and it's hard to see him exercising much power again in the near future. Otter's failure to wring even a face-saving pittance of the gas tax increase he made his first legislative priority stems partly from his own clumsiness. He staked his status on an initiative he should have known he was destined to lose in a House driven by right-wing, anti-tax ideologues. And by the time he resorted to the one big stick any chief executive has, the veto stamp, he was losing people who had stood by him earlier/Jim Fisher, Lewiston Tribune. More here.

• This was a great session/Adam's Blog
• Monday 5.11/Unequivocal Notion
• 2 things that start with 'C' that bug me/IdaBlue
• Banning citizen from public building is worrisome/Wayne Hoffman, Statesman
• Boise shows signs of economic turnabout/Rocky Barker

Question: Will Butch Otter be a one-term governor?