Harry Truman famously said, “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.” I’ll offer the Johnson Corollary to Truman’s great one liner: “in politics, it is almost always your friends who cause you trouble.” Most every politician I have known has a very good idea from which direction the partisan opposition will attack. It’s the onslaught from friends that is harder to anticipate and even more difficult to combat. From Idaho to Indiana today, the Republican Party is in full revolt against itself and the soldiers in this war of the friends – faintly moderate Republicans battling really, really conservative Republicans – are in full battle gear. The most recent purge of the “moderates” claimed its latest victim yesterday when 36-year Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar lost by 20 points in a GOP primary. Lugar, 80-years old, and portrayed as a squishy bipartisan moderate, was retired by the same type of voter who will next week take the Idaho GOP in an ever more rightward direction/Marc Johnson, The Johnson Report. More here.

Question: Can the Tea Party survive without moderate Republican votes?

Now that the Idaho Republican Party is requiring candidates to pledge their support to the state party's platform or outline where they disagree, the candidate surveys are taking on new significance as primary elections approach, reports AP reporter John Miller, and they've divided the state's dominant political party. Jonathan Parker, executive director of the state GOP, told Miller the review “gives people the opportunity to find out where the candidates stand.” But critics such as Priest Lake Republican Rep. Eric Anderson, pictured, say it's an unnecessary “purity test.” “It's silly,” Anderson said. He added, “There's always going to be things in life you disagree with.” The platform includes planks such as calling for the repeal of the 17th Amendment, which let voters, rather than state legislatures, elect U.S. senators; returning to the gold standard; abolishing the state's redistricting commission and handing that task back to the state Legislature; and calling for state nullification of federal laws/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.

Question: Would you return this survey if you were running for election as a Republican candidate?

Three years ago, Eric Olsen was a petroleum engineer hungry for employment and fed up with the skyrocketing national debt, newly elected U.S. President Barack Obama and a seemingly lost Republican Party. So, he struck out for the Yellowstone County Courthouse lawn with a picket sign and an American flag. It was April 15, Tax Day. He was joined by several dozen other locals who like Olsen were too angry at pork barrel spending by GOP lawmakers to call themselves Republicans, too tired of yelling at the pundits on Fox News to stay at home and yell at the television anymore. The people on the courthouse lawn that day carried signs protesting just about everything from immigration to deficit spending to something called the left-wing socialist agenda. A man in the front of the pack held up the book “God’s Politics; Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It.” Several of the placards held up read “Taxed Enough Already,” or TEA for short. This was the beginning of the (Billings) Tea Party/Tom Lutey, Billings Gazette. More here. (AP file photo: Sarah Palin addresses Tea Party rally at Reno, Nev., in October 2010)

Question: How has the Tea Party reshaped the Republican Party?

Looks like RecallCDA will be using its Tea Party connections to collect signatures tonight at the Greyhound Track. Someone pseudonymed William Wallace posted this in a comment thread: “RecallCDA will be collecting signatures at the Conservative Candidate Forum, April 11th, Greyhound Park, Post Falls. Doors open at 5:00. Stop by, sign the petition and meet the candidates that will be on the May 15th primary ballot.”

Thoughts?

Jan Wisniewski believes the Democrats these days tend to lean toward socialism. In his mind, some of their ideas might even be considered Marxist. And so the chairman of the Ravalli County planning board – who most would have sworn in the past to be a staunch Republican – is on this year’s ballot as Democrat in both a county and a state race. “I am. I am a Democrat,” Wisniewski said in an interview last week. “It says so right there on the ballot. We want to get some balance in things and do some compromising with these hard-line leftists.” Wisniewski’s candidacy, and that of seven others running for the seldom-contested position of Democratic precinct captain, has members of the Ravalli County Democratic Central Committee crying foul/Perry Baucus, Ravalli Republic. More here.

Question: What do you think of the tactic being employed by the Tea Party Right in Ravalli County, Mont.?

Classified ad in this week's Nickel's Worth: “Tea Party and Patriot meeting, Monday, March 5th, 6:30 p.m., Blanchard Community Center. Discussion will include Republican caucus, candidate forum, caribou update, Idaho Lightfoot Militia and Obamacare.”

• Photo essay of a North Idaho militia by Matt Mills McKnight

Question: Can anyone interpret this? Has North Idaho Tea Party and Patriot types thrown in with Idaho Lightfoot Militia? Or do they want to discussion combining forces? Or what?

Richard Mack will not be speaking at this year's Lincoln Day Dinner. After nearly two hours of often acrimonious debate, a nearly evenly divided Kootenai County Republican Central Committee voted Tuesday in favor of rescinding the party's invitation to Mack, a Tea Party activist and former Arizona sheriff, to be the keynote speaker at their March 24 dinner and fundraiser. The roll call vote of 31-30 was taken after the party chair, Tina Jacobson (pictured), defended the procedure followed to select Mack and chided a group of elected precinct committee members for signing a letter opposing Mack's selection and giving the letter to members of the media. “We've had discussions in this room about airing our laundry in the press,” Jacobson said. She said going to the newspapers with party business hurts the organization and shows divisiveness. “And the Democrats are passing the popcorn,” Jacobson said/Maureen Dolan, Coeur d'Alene Press. More here.

Question: Did Kootenai County Republicans help/hurt themselves by disinviting controversial Richard Mack to speak at their Lincoln Day Dinner March 24?

In a letter to the Coeur d'Alene Press (re: GOP faction opposes Richard Mack speech), Thomas Robinson, GOPrecinct 2 Committeeman from Spirit Lake writes: “Of the Central Committee members who signed the letter, one has been to one meeting since the last primary, one attended two, and five more have missed five to 15 meetings. If they would get involved, perhaps they would know more. That would require some effort on their part, but they think they should be the VIP boss, and the VIP doesn’t work. Since they aren’t the VIP, they would rather sulk and complain. On one of my shifts at the county fair, one of your complainers showed up. He sat in the back of the booth the whole shift, talking on his phone. Did no work. Haven’t noticed a lot of them participating at the three parades I was in, either.” More here. (Wikipedia photo of Richard Mack)

• Wikipedia profile of Richard Mack

Question: Would you want to hear controversial ex-Arizona sheriff Richard Mack speak?

OutofStaterTater: If I’m late to the party on this topic, I apologize, but I thought this was totally sweet: the keynote for the Kootenai County Lincoln Day this year is Sheriff Richard Mack, who regularly speaks to, and works with…wait for it…The John Birch Society. Ok, so that’s not totally sweet. Actually, it’s an embarassment. Yes folks, the John Birch Society - the group that accused Eisenhower of being a communist operative. The group that thought Reagan was a liberal and a sellout to the left. ?!? The group that regularly peddles paranoid conspiracy theories and thinly-veiled anti-Semitism. And Sheriff Mack apparently thinks that’s all ok. So does the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee, apparently. Yow.

Question: Are there any official John Birch Society groups meeting in the Inland Northwest?

Former Arizona sheriff Richard Mack (pictured), a Tea Party activist, will be the guest speaker of the 2012 Lincoln Dinner & Fundraiser staged by the Kootenai County Republican Party at the Coeur d'Alene Resort at 6 p.m. Saturday, March 24. A news release just received by HucksOnline describes Mack as “a powerful, experience speaker, a strong advocate of states' rights and individual freedoms.” He will discuss “the County Sheriff Project, the Oath of Office, citizens' personal freedoms and the importance of the office of Sheriff to defend those freedoms.” General admission to the event if $50 per person. You can read more here.

Question: What is the “County Sheriff Project”?

For the past two years, the traditional Martin Luther King Jr./Idaho Human Rights Day human rights rally on the steps of the state Capitol has had to be moved, because the Idaho Freedom Foundation scooted in early and reserved the steps for a Tea Party rally. That didn't happen this year. Asked why not, Freedom Foundation head Wayne Hoffman said, “I think the Tea Party group has gone from doing rallies to doing a lot more public policy-type work,” including getting involved with legislation/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here. (AP file photo: Roger Warrick, 71, from Boise, waves his flag on the state capitol steps in downtown Boise  during a Tea Party Boise tax day rally on April 15, 2010)

Question: Has the Tea Party been effective in Idaho?

The Republican nomination for the regional legislative seats will be hard-won this year. Conservative activists Pam Stout and Danielle Ahrens have announced their intention to pursue the GOP nomination for seats currently held by Rep. George Eskridge, R-Dover, and Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint. “Neither one of us is a slick Boise politician,” Ahrens said. “We know what it’s like to balance a checkbook.” After her inclusion in a New York Times feature story and an appearance on “Late Night With David Letterman” in 2010,  Pam Stout became something of a national Tea Party icon. Her county job heading the Bonner County Property Rights Council further bolstered her conservative credentials. Now Stout aims to take her views to Boise as a District 1 representative/Cameron Rasmussen, Bonner County Bee. More here. (SR file photo: Pam Stout, shown during a tea party rally in 2009, now heads the Bonner County Property Rights Council)

Question: Do you think either Shawn Keough or George Eskridge are a “slick Boise politician”?

Joe Heller/Hellertoons

The Occupy Wall Street movement is not wearing well with voters across the country. Only 33% now say that they are supportive of its goals, compared to 45% who say they oppose them. That represents an 11 point shift in the wrong direction for the movement's support compared to a month ago when 35% of voters said they supported it and 36% were opposed. Most notably independents have gone from supporting Occupy Wall Street's goals 39/34, to opposing them 34/42. Voters don't care for the Tea Party either, with 42% saying they support its goals to 45% opposed.  But asked whether they have a higher opinion of the Tea Party or Occupy Wall Street movement the Tea Party wins out 43-37, representing a flip from last month when Occupy Wall Street won out 40-37 on that question/Public Policy Polling. More here. (AP photo: Occupy Wall Street protester is arrested near The New York Stock Exchange in New York today)

Question: Are you surprised that Tea Party is now better liked than Occupy movement?

Political life in Bonner County is a curious, and sometimes dysfunctional process. Like permissive yet negligent parents, residents mostly ignore whatever their government is getting up to until they just can’t ignore it anymore, at which time they tend to come down hard on the miscreants. That may—or may not—be what’s happening now, as a suggestion to remove tax funding for some popular programs has served to spotlight other actions that are also causing some dismay, as residents are asking “What is this Property Rights Council, and why does the local tea party seem to be running it?”/Trish Gannon, River Journal. More here. (Pam Stout of the Property Rights Council)

Question: Do you support the purpose of the Bonner County Property Rights Council?

Rep. Mike Simpson is taking the fight to the tea party wing of his Republican Party — and, potentially, taking the fight to his opponents in 2012. Simpson is helping to mobilize a bipartisan group in the House that would be willing to strike a big deal on deficit reduction. This deal could, and most likely would, include new taxes. Fiscally speaking, Simpson and his allies are on the mark. It may take a “grand bargain,” a deficit reduction plan in the $4 trillion ballpark, to take a real bite out of the deficit and head off any future downgrades in the U.S. credit rating. And it is impossible to get to that $4 trillion range without spending cuts and revenues. Politically speaking, though, this is a bold and risky move/Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman. More here.

Question: Is there any way to solve reduce our deficits without raising taxes somewhat?

• Wednesday Poll: 121 of 182 respondents (66.48%) said they wouldn't frequent a business that obviously supported an opposing political party or candidate. Only 51 of 182 respondents (28.02%) said they would. 10 (5.49%) were undecided.
• Today's Poll: Which movement are you more sympathetic with — Occupy Wall Street of Tea Party?

Pam Stout's first brush with fame came in the spring of 2010 when, after appearing in a New York Times story about the rise of the Tea Party, David Letterman invited her on his show to explain the movement. “I know nothing about the Tea Party,” he said at the outset of the interview. Stout went on to explain — in a calm, mild manner, to the dismay of some liberals — that she and fellow activists were out to combat wasteful spending. To do that in her hometown of Sandpoint, she said, “We're trying locally to take over the Republican party.” She added, “In Sandpoint, it's not so much of an issue — it's fairly conservative”/Cally Carswell, High Country News. More here. (SR file photo)

Question: Is Kootenai County as susceptible to Tea Party control as Bonner County?

In the conservative crucible of Idaho’s far north, a tea party leader aiming to slim down government has a new title: Government worker. Pam Stout, a tea party activist interviewed by late-night TV’s David Letterman, landed a $25,000, 19-hour weekly job heading the Bonner County Property Rights Council. She’s recruiting volunteers to this new arm of local government, to advise county commissioners about free-market alternatives, slashing spending and intervening in disputes with Washington, D.C. bureaucrats. Some in this region of lakes, evergreens and snowcapped mountains are responding warily to what they see as an ideologically motivated panel inside the courthouse, funded by taxpayers and blessed by elected leaders/John Miller, AP. More here. (SR file photo, of Pam Stout at Post Falls Tea Party event)

• Flashback: New Property Rights Council brings messy ideological extremism to Bonner County Government/Terry Harris, KEA Blog

Question: What do you make of a leading light in the Tea Party movement taking a gummint job for Bonner County, to oversee property rights?

Signe Wilkinson/Philadelphia Inquirer