Candidates Headed For Finish Line Dancing, Talking, Eating Mark Last Weekend Of Campaigns
North Idaho Republicans talked shop while the Democrats did the Macarena, but both ended their Sunday with bowls of Texas chili.
Each party canvassed Kootenai County, dropping off thousands of copies of campaign literature in that last weekend push to sway undecided voters. They ended their efforts in the cozy smallness of their rented headquarters, hoping their efforts will pay off Tuesday.
“(We’re) helping people tell the Christians from the lions,” said Ron Rankin, a Republican running for Kootenai County commissioner.
GOP supporters delivered about 6,500 packets to the doors of voters in Kootenai and parts of Shoshone counties. On Saturday, Republican headquarters at Fourth and Garden were packed with the party faithful who were putting together the red-white-and-blue bundles.
On Sunday, the place was packed with candidates and volunteers talking about the race. Some just sat back and decompressed after a long day of deliveries.
County GOP chair Kathy Sims had a case of the sniffles Sunday after hours of hitting the pavement. She said she went to hundreds of houses.
“I don’t know if any weekend is more important, but it’s just the way campaigns run,” Sims said. “Everything builds up to the last.”
That psyches her up, she said. “You just run on stored-up energy.”
Jim Clark, a newcomer running for the District 3A House seat, admits the campaign gauntlet starts to wear a little thin after awhile. “I’m a little tired,” Clark said, wearing a “Ski Schweitzer” cap. “I’ve been at this since March.”
That didn’t stop him from asking people for a vote as soon as they walked in, or jokingly hitting up a reporter for the final $50 he needed for campaign signs.
Everyone was in prime campaign form. When office manager Sherm Snyder introduced three candidates as “real-live politicians,” state Rep. Jeff Alltus protested.
“What a cut,” he said. “It’s ‘taxpayer in office.”’ The smell of chili wafted through the air, campaign signs were strung all about the place, and there was lots and lots of black coffee.
Things were a little zanier at Democratic headquarters on Government Way. To blow off steam after delivering 10,000 voter’s guides, the Democrats had a party of a different kind.
The Coeur d’Alene Marimba Band played. A small Beer Drinkers of America poster hung on one wall, showing Mount Rushmore’s busts of Washington and Lincoln clinking beer steins. “Freedom - Keep it Rock Solid,” it read. “Vote.”
Candidates even competed in a Macarena contest.
“We heard Dan Williams had been practicing, but he had to catch a plane,” quipped Linda Payne, county Democratic chair.
“It’s an appreciation for our volunteers,” Payne said, most of whom are a little winded late in the campaign. “It’s gives that last, big boost.” Until Tuesday, she added.
After the candidates’ hip-swaying, other Democrats hit the floor, dancing to the steely sounds of the marimba band. Volunteer Katherine von Hagen looked on, smiled and clapped, but didn’t spin wildly about like some folks.
“My four lattes are wearing off,” she said. She had distributed voter’s guides from 7 a.m. until 2 p.m. “I’m exhausted.”
Macarena champion Mary Lou Reed, a District 4 senator running for re-election, left just before the chili feed.
“I have to admit, I practiced a little,” she said, smiling. Even though she was “bone tired,” the campaign frenzy is addictive, she said.
“It’s very comparable to battle,” Reed said. Volunteers and candidates become fast friends while sharing the trenches.
“It’s always a letdown after it’s over, win or lose,” the white-haired candidate said. “To slow down to normal speed is always a jolt.”
, DataTimes