Reform Party, Unimpressed With Most Candidates, Sits Out Key Races
The Reform Party of Idaho on Monday declined to endorse candidates in the United States Senate and the 1st District congressional races.
“We don’t have perfect candidates,” state Chairman Gary Allen said. “We don’t have candidates we feel have earned our endorsement.”
What Allen said was a statistically based random survey of 414 likely voters among the 20,000 people statewide who signed Reform Party ballot status petitions showed no clear preference for any candidate in either race and a large percentage of people who refused to back any of the candidates.
He specifically cited criticism by those polled of the extremely negative tone of the race between Republican Sen. Larry Craig and Democratic challenger Walt Minnick.
The poll also found that only 19 percent of those questioned said they intended to vote for Reform Party founder Ross Perot for president. Perot got 27 percent of Idaho’s vote in 1992, and other independent polls have placed him under 10 percent this year.
President Clinton got 25 percent of the support while GOP nominee Bob Dole got 28 percent and 28 percent were either undecided or rejected all three candidates. Four years ago, Clinton got 28.5 percent of Idaho’s vote and Bush got 42 percent.
Allen said the sampling error for the statewide survey was plus or minus 5 percentage points. The congressional district poll, which involved only half of the statewide total in each district, carried a sampling error of plus or minus 7 percentage points.
The poll was weighted toward women, who accounted for 59 percent of those questioned and at least nationally have favored Democrats. There were also 45 percent independents to 35 percent Republicans and 20 percent Democrats. A statewide poll two years ago found 30 percent of Idaho voters identifying themselves as independents, 48 percent as Republican and 22 percent as Democratic.
The party did endorse two-term Republican Congressman Michael Crapo over Democratic challenger John Seidl. Allen congratulated Crapo on avoiding a negative campaign against a political newcomer all polls show will be swamped next week. But Allen also cited Crapo’s general support for the Reform Party agenda, particularly the balanced budget and spending planks.
Crapo had 48 percent and Seidl 15 percent with 37 percent undecided.
While there was essentially no difference between Crapo’s voting record on the Reform Party platform and freshman conservative Helen Chenoweth’s, the party declined to give Chenoweth its endorsement. Allen said party members questioned her ability as a consensus builder and problem solver, suggesting her effectiveness has been limited.
“We need somebody who can do more than say ‘No,”’ he said, but there is a question whether Democratic challenger Dan Williams would vote for a balanced budget without the constitutional amendment he opposes.
Williams got 35 percent, Chenoweth 32 percent and 33 percent undecided or rejecting both major candidates.
In the Senate race, Minnick polled 37 percent, Craig 32 percent with 31 percent undecided or rejecting both.
Allen said the negative campaign harmed both camps, although that might have been the only drawback Minnick had among Reform Party members, whose endorsement he had tried hard to secure. While party members have questions about some of Minnick’s approaches, including his one-year balanced budget plan, Allen said they preferred someone they had to rein in rather than someone who had to be urged to do anything.
Craig, Allen said, was seen as a career politician who has taken large sums from special interests and has a weak record on campaign finance reform and term limits.