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Idaho primary emotions eclipse low turnout
Idaho’s inaugural closed primary election Tuesday turned into a nasty internal squabble for the state’s dominant Republican Party, as GOP leaders, factions and interest groups turned on each other in a bid to take control. Still, state Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, and state Rep. George Eskridge, R-Dover, held off tea party challengers in the primary, as did moderate Republicans across the state. Tax-protesting Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, was vying with three GOP challengers, but the vote-counting was to continue well into this morning. For up-to-date results, go to www.spokesman.com.
Bomb scares disrupt voting
Two bomb scares disrupted voting Tuesday in Idaho. In Coeur d’Alene, voting was temporarily delayed at Woodland Middle School, the polling place for two Idaho precincts in Tuesday’s primary election, after the building was evacuated for fear of a bomb. Officials did not say what prompted the scare.
Today’s vote a first for Idaho
Idaho voters go to the polls today for the first election under the state’s new closed-primary system. That means for the first time, Idaho voters must register by party. And while they can choose to register as a Republican, a Democrat, a Libertarian, a Constitution Party member or unaffiliated, only those who register as Republicans can vote in the GOP primary. Republicans dominate Idaho politics; in Kootenai County, there aren’t any Democrats running for local county offices.
Idaho voters head to the polls Tuesday
Idaho voters go to the polls Tuesday - they’re open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. - for the first election under the state’s new closed-primary system.
Eye on Boise: GunPAC’s targets curiously chosen
BOISE – Among the weirdest things that emerged from campaign finance reports in Idaho this week – which showed that House Republican leaders were funneling money from their leadership PAC to another PAC that then was targeting one of those same House leaders for defeat – was the purported purpose of that second PAC. It’s called GunPAC and claims to be all about promoting gun rights. But of the three House incumbents it’s targeting, one owns a gun store; the second is a Vietnam veteran who’s championed military and gun issues; and the third is House Majority Caucus Chairman Ken Roberts, the treasurer of the very House Leadership Victory Fund whose money GunPAC is using to try to defeat the three.