Huckleberries Online

Labrador Breaks Idaho Stereotype

Posted by DFO

Nov. 4, 2010 8:44 a.m. • 12 comments

Idaho elected its first Hispanic to represent the state in Congress on Tuesday, as Raul Labrador upset freshman Democratic Rep. Walt Minnick with a decisive 51 percent to 41.3 percent victory. Labrador, a conservative Republican state lawmaker and immigration attorney, said he thought the “first” was significant because it sent a message to the nation about Idahoans. “People have such a bad connotation of what Idaho represents,” Labrador said, “a bad place, a racist place. I can’t think of a better message for Idaho to send than to send a young man who was born in Puerto Rico, was raised in Las Vegas and was adopted by this state”/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here. (AP/Idaho Press-Tribune Photo: Labrador with his wife Rebecca inside the Republican election night headquarters in Boise Tuesday.)

Labrador: GOP Congress needs to go positive/Brad Iverson-Long, IReporter

Question: Will the election of Puerto Rican Raul Labrador as a congressman help change the nation’s view of Idaho?

12 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

Gary D Rhodes on November 04 at 8:55 a.m.
Yes
Outside of Idaho amongst open-minded Americans.
Amongst Democrats whom see conservatives as racist,
No.
Nothing can help those whom will not see.
Norther on November 04 at 9:03 a.m.
Of course it will. They will casually forget the last two years when we had a congressman who didn’t embarass us and just remember Mr. Sali. I guess I am still angry.
nic on November 04 at 9:10 a.m.
I doubt it.
nic on November 04 at 9:13 a.m.
And is it just me… or does Raul’s wife look 10 - 20 years his elder?
Smacky on November 04 at 9:13 a.m.
Sadly, no. He was elected in Idaho, despite his ethnicity, based on the letter ‘R’. He is a mere placeholder for the republicans.
scootermom on November 04 at 9:25 a.m.
Sadly, Idaho is seen as a backwater of anti-government wingnuts.

I don’t see how Labrador will change that.
ShoshoneConservative on November 04 at 9:48 a.m.
Anyone who judges all of Idaho by the actions and words of Californian Richard Butler and Iowan Randy Weaver aren’t any better than the white supremacists who point to instances of negative behavior by a few minorites to judge entire races.
HonestGeorge on November 04 at 10:13 a.m.
Labrador won because he’s a republican, not because of any unique qualification that he has to perform as an legislator. Except one big one in my eyes - he stood pretty tall under quite an onslaught of real negative crap against him. I like that. Hopefully the nation will judge him on that.
MJHart on November 04 at 12:59 p.m.
I think most Republicans in Idaho think the R on the ballot stands for racist. That why they pick it.
Cabbage Boy on November 04 at 1:13 p.m.
Don’t forget, Labrador beat the well connected, better funded Vaugh Ward too. Perhaps, just perhaps Labrador has something to offer. Principle.

I for one am sick of sending politicians back to DC and then having them throw a few scraps back to Idaho and say, see, I am working for Idaho while they sell our country down the river.

Hopefully Raul remembers his principles got him elected.
Smacky on November 04 at 1:50 p.m.
CB, labrador didn’t beat Ward, Ward defeated himself.

If labrador has “Principles” I’ve yet to see it. Minnick helped labrador get elected by leveling the playing field down to a “I know you are, but what am I” contest and the reliable Rs in Idaho did as they normally do.

We had a representative who represented the middle of Idaho. Now I have know idea what we have other than a placeholder.
Rudedog on November 16 at 3:42 a.m.
What I found disturbing is that the Repub Convention in Idaho Falls had a call to fund a Militia.
Let’s not forget how the Bonner County Republicans were outraged over the “Fiesta” themed county fair. Changing the word to Celebrate.
How racist must one be to find outrage in a cheerful word? It was meant as support for Arizona? Do these creatures understand Arizona is Spanish for arid zone/dry area?

Funny how Minnick was MORE Republican than Labrador yet Labrador won ONLY because there was an R besides his name.

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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.