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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Official: Democrats Still Show Signs Of Life

Associated Press

The Democratic Party has the right message, it just needs to make certain that more people hear it, Don Fowler, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said Thursday.

“The Democratic Party is alive and well,” he said, on a swing through Idaho, a state which showed little sign of it in the last election. “There’s a great sense of optimism. We have the message, we need to develop the wherewithal to deliver it,” he said.

Fowler was in the middle of a five-day swing through five Western states. In Idaho, he’s got a big job reviving a party which suffered a disaster in the last election.

Democrats in the Idaho Legislature are down to levels not seen since the 1920s, and Democrats lost every major election in the state with the exception of state Controller J.D. Williams.

Fowler acknowledged those defeats, but said the party has been working hard to learn what people are concerned about, and how to address them.

Most of his criticism fell on the Republicans’ tax-cut plan. “It’s a tax break for the people who are making $200,000, $250,000 per year,” he said.

Fowler said he doesn’t personally know Walt Minnick, the Boise businessman who has announced for the Democratic nomination against GOP Sen. Larry Craig in next year’s election, but has been advised Minnick will be a good candidate.