16 Days & Counting (to affiliate with the Republican Party to vote in the closed GOPrimary in May): I'm thinking about some friends who moved here from Hawaii last year -- and have experienced their first winter in North Idaho. It has been a mild winter, to be sure. But I don't think they see it that way. Mebbe I'll take them a fruit basket and a lei, to help them through the final weeks of our mild-before-it-turned-dicey winter. That might cheer them up. Here's your Hump Day Wild Card ...