Chenoweth Won’t Run For Senate Gubernatorial Race May Be In Her Future

U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth said Thursday that she’s not interested in running for the Senate seat being vacated by Dirk Kempthorne, but she doesn’t rule out a future run for governor.

“I really don’t believe that my personality lends itself to the Senate,” Chenoweth said Thursday during a taping of KTVB-TV’s “Viewpoint” public affairs program. “The Senate is more august, and the House’s personality is a little bit more free-wheeling.”

“I feel very comfortable in the House,” she said.

Chenoweth, who has pledged to seek just one more term in Congress, said if 2nd District Rep. Mike Crapo runs for Kempthorne’s Senate seat, “He certainly will have my full support.”

“We’ll miss him if he goes into the Senate very much, but he would be a very fine senator,” she said.

Looking to her own political future, Chenoweth was asked if she’s considering a future bid for governor.

“If certain doors open, I’ll take a look at it,” she said, “but right now I just want to do the best job I can in the capacity I’m working at.”

She said she’s confident about her future. “I feel a sense of freedom knowing that I’m strong, healthy and I can always hold a good job, so I just don’t worry about it.”

Also during the taping, Chenoweth:

Said she’ll gladly debate her opponent before the May primary election. “I think the people deserve to see a debate before an election,” she said.

Coeur d’Alene software entrepreneur Tony Paquin is challenging Chenoweth in the Republican primary. John Hale, a former military man who lives part-time in Idaho Falls but works in Cheney, Wash., also has said he’s considering entering the race.

Responded to Paquin’s continuing assertion that he shares many of her views but lacks her image of extremism: “I am at a loss to understand where this individual believes that I have extreme views, because I guess if I am extreme, I am extreme in the cause of freedom and liberty, and I won’t back down on that.”

Repeated her pledge to serve no more than three two-year terms in the House. She is in her second term. “I think the people of Idaho have spoken on term limits.”

Said she supports either a flat tax or a national sales tax, to replace the current income tax system. “I think either one of these alternatives would be better than what we have now.”

Stopped short of endorsing Kempthorne’s hard-fought compromise bill reforming the Endangered Species Act, saying only, “I look forward to studying the bill.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo