The awkward but sometimes mutually beneficial marriage between establishment Republicans and the tea party right is over. Idaho’s 2nd Congressional District will be the initial site of the divorce battle over who gets to keep the house, and establishment witnesses are lining up to testify. The state’s biggest political players signed on last week with U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson’s campaign. Butch and Lori Otter, the state’s first couple, will be co-chairmen of the 2014 Simpson campaign steering committee, and state House Speaker Scott Bedke and Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis will join the likes of Attorney General Lawrence Wasden and Secretary of State Ben Ysursa on the advisory panel/Opinion Editor Jon Alexander, Twin Falls Times News. More here.

Question: Do you see the battle for the GOP's soul here in North Idaho, too?