Status Quo Rule Of The Day In Idaho
Idaho races
The faces in Idaho’s statewide political landscape changed little Tuesday, and voters appeared reluctant to change much else, judging by the failure of most ballot initiatives.
Sen. Larry Craig handily trounced challenger Walt Minnick, who failed to overcome Craig’s strong GOP support.
Even $1 million of his own money and a hot button issue like nuclear waste couldn’t propel Minnick to the Senate.
With 527 of 925 precincts reporting statewide, Craig pulled in 160,630 votes - 59 percent of the vote - to Minnick’s 103,594 - 38 percent.
In the House, controversial Republican Helen Chenoweth defeated Democrat Dan Williams.
Statewide, Chenoweth had 75,961 votes - about 52 percent - to Williams’ 66,395 votes - about 45 percent.
Chenoweth’s re-election bid drew national attention, with Democrats trying to suggest she was the poster child for an extremist House freshman class.
Williams, 34, followed that line, attacking Chenoweth, 58, as too right-wing for Idaho and calling repeated attention to her support for militias and her missteps with Idaho’s Native Americans.
Chenoweth painted Williams as a slick Boise lawyer who was bought and paid for by labor unions.
And as expected, Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole captured the state’s four electoral votes, but it wasn’t enough to keep President Bill Clinton from winning re-election.
Once again, the statewide One Percent Initiative failed to garner the majority of votes needed to pass. The proposition would have capped property taxes at 1 percent of assessed property value.
With about a third of the state’s precinct’s reporting, the number of proposition opponents doubled its supporters.
Critics charged that such a law would force deep cuts in education and other public services, while supporters said nothing else would stop escalating property taxes from forcing property owners out of their homes.
The only proposition with a chance of passing was one imposing term limits on U.S. representatives and senators. The issue was too close to call in early returns.
A proposition to ban radioactive waste from the state was failing as Idahoans endorsed Gov. Phil Batt’s agreement with the federal government to temporarily store the waste in the state for the next 40 years.
Idahoans also were dumping a proposition to ban the use of bait and dogs in the hunting of bears, which sportsmen feared was the beginning of an all-out assault on their right to hunt.
While the initiatives appeared to be failing statewide, early returns in Kootenai County showed that the majority of local voters supported them.
Some changes did come on a local level.
In North Idaho’s five legislative districts, Republicans appeared to be winning the most seats. The votes in North Idaho wouldn’t upset the veto-proof Legislature.
In fact, two long-time Democrat senators, Mary Lou Reed of Coeur d’Alene and Tim Tucker of Bonners Ferry appeared to be losing their races.
Reed was in a tight race with physician Jack Riggs, who was leading with 54 percent of the vote in early returns.
In the hotly contested Kootenai County commissioners race, the author of the statewide One Percent proposal, Ron Rankin, appeared to be winning the commissioner’s seat in a three-way race. Democrat Chuck Sheroke and incumbent Bob Macdonald - who ran a last-ditch write-in campaign - failed to keep the tax activist out of office.
With 12 of 52 precincts reporting, Rankin had 5,617 votes, or 48 percent, while Sheroke and Macdonald trailed with 39 percent and 13 percent respectively.
, DataTimes MEMO: Changed from the Idaho edition