Idaho Demos Hunt For Leader Williams, Minnick Lead In Rumors As Next Democrat Governor Hopeful

Facing the potential of a second straight disastrous showing at the polls this fall, Idaho’s only statewide elected Democrat is doing some speculating about the 1998 campaign for governor.

Controller J.D. Williams says he has not ruled out making that race himself, although he seems to be leaning toward a re-election bid if he stays in politics.

He got just 35 percent of the vote in an ill-fated run for Congress four years ago but was the lone Democrat to survive the 1994 debacle, winning a new four-year term as controller by less than 3,300 votes.

But North Idaho Democrats recoil sharply at the premise that their party will take another pummeling at the polls this fall.

“People now know what they got,” said Barb Chamberlain, vice chairwoman of the Kootenai County Democratic Central Committee.

“I think anytime you have a pendulum swing too far one direction or another, society corrects that,” Chamberlain said. “I think 1996 will be a good showing for us because we will be correcting the extreme swing to the right in 1994.”

Chamberlain isn’t willing to stretch that optimistic forecast to 1998. It’s too soon to know “what kind of crisis or problem will shape the election in 1998,” she said.

Some Democrats acknowledge that the state party let former Gov. Cecil Andrus be the star for too long without cultivating strong successors to push the party after Andrus’s departure two years ago. They contend they are on the rebound.

Others think there are good things to be said for the Democratic drubbing in 1994.

“When you burn your field, you can start over and let new buds grow,” said Mike Kennedy, former president of the Kootenai County Democratic Club who now is field director for U.S. Senate candidate Walt Minnick.

“I think the future is really bright when you consider the candidates we have,” Kennedy said. He’s not sure, however, that Democrats will regain power in the Legislature.

State Controller Williams, meanwhile, is touting former Democratic Congressman Richard Stallings to lead the party in two years - a suggestion Stallings has shrugged off in the past.

“I think the strongest Democratic candidate right now is Richard Stallings,” Williams said. At the state Democratic convention three weeks ago, “he was the one who was talked about the most.”

Stallings, who served four terms in Congress before suffering a landslide defeat for the U.S. Senate at the hands of Republican Dirk Kempthorne in 1992, says he enjoys his job as executive director of the Pocatello Neighborhood Housing Service.

“I’m very happy with what I’m doing,” Stallings said.

But with the retirement of four-term Gov. Cecil Andrus in 1994 when the party suffered its worst defeat at the polls in two generations, Democrats have seen no strong leader step forward to fill the void and breathe new life into the party whose moderate and liberal wings remain at odds.

There has also been some speculation that Walt Minnick, who is challenging Republican Sen. Larry Craig, could be using the long-shot Senate campaign as a tune-up for a race for governor in two years.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = From staff and wire reports Staff writer Ken Olsen contributed to this report.