Campaign ‘96

How many Democrats does it take to mail a campaign finance report?

U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, his opponent Walt Minnick, and Rep. Helen Chenoweth delivered promptly when asked to express mail us their latest fund-raising reports last week. But staff for Dan Williams, the Democrat challenging Chenoweth, kept missing the mailbox. Monday they sent nothing, Tuesday was little better. Wednesday afternoon a package arrived from Camp Dan, but it was opponent Chenoweth’s 1994 final finance report, not his.

By Friday, nothing had arrived and Williams’ spokesman, Ted Sullivan, was apologetic, eventually sending the report via the fax machine - all 32 pages. But he had a request. “Could you send it (the Chenoweth report) back?” he asked. “It’s our only copy.”

Bearly acceptable

The ballot initiative to stop the use of bait and hounds to hunt bears, as well as ending spring bear hunts, must have opponents worried. Idaho officials announced this week that three Idaho Department of Transportation employees are under investigation for allegedly using state fax machines in a campaign against the bear initiative. That’s the second such incident. Earlier in the year, Gov. Phil Batt raised questions about the Idaho Fish and Game Commission mixing in the anti-initiative campaign.

Fax faux pas

Earlier tallies in this column of the excessive number of faxes cranked out by various politicians is under fire, most notably from Craig’s press secretary. He disputes our tally. It turns out he’s right. We discovered that some staffers threw away some of the extras. So we’ve been underestimating.

Stealth attack

Craig, meanwhile, seems to have caught Minnick’s staff members in an inconsistency of their own. A few weeks ago, Minnick suggested cutting $6.3 billion from the federal budget allegedly earmarked for a nuclear aircraft carrier. Turns out the carrier isn’t even in the budget or any proposal.

Toeing the line

You can’t say Larry Irvine lost the primary race for the Shoshone County sheriff’s office for not trying. His bumper stickers were so prevalent as to go down on saloon floors to mark the line from which dart players took their shots. Sort of a hit-and-miss election strategy.

Web site of the week

Rush Limbaugh apparently has enough fans and foes that they can fight it out each day on the Internet. The Unofficial Rush Limbaugh Home Page - which provides summaries of his radio shows, talks about his critics and even provides a link to places to buy his neckties - can be found at http:/ /www.eskimo.com/(tilde)jeremyps/ rush/index2.html … Those who share comedian Al Franken’s view of the self-proclaimed oracle of truth might prefer The Daily Refutation of Rush Limbaugh, found at http://www.geocities.com/ TimesSquare/1131/index.html.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Graphic: How they voted

MEMO: Campaign ‘96 is published regularly during the campaign season and is compiled from staff reports.