Kerry amassing record funds in Idaho

BOISE – Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry has raised almost as much money from Idaho supporters as Republican President Bush has, a surprising feat in a state where the Republican Party has ruled presidential politics since the Lyndon Johnson administration.

The latest Federal Election Commission statistics show that Kerry has raised $356,261 compared with Bush’s $362,310 from Idaho individuals, political action committees and companies giving $200 or more each.

About a quarter of the donations to Kerry’s campaign have come from individuals. More than $200,000 of Kerry’s Idaho donations have come from wealthy Blaine County residents such as Alan Blinken, a Clinton administration ambassador and Senate candidate in 2000.

Kerry and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, have a home in Blaine County.

The last time a majority of Idahoans have supported a Democrat for president was in 1964, when Lyndon B. Johnson won the state by just 5,363 votes out of 292,477 cast.

Since then, no Democrat has come close to claiming Idaho’s four Electoral College votes.

According to Federal Election Commission reports in September, Kerry had raised more than $72,000 in Boise, where he and early primary front-runner Howard Dean both made campaign stops.

Those visits paid off.

“I mean literally,” said state Rep. Debbie Field, R-Boise, who has raised money for the Bush campaign.

“They’re working hard, and (Kerry) has been here a couple of times,” Field said. “What I would give if Bush would just stop here for 10 minutes.”

Vice President Dick Cheney has made appearances in Boise, but Bush never has traveled to or through Idaho, though he has told U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, he would come to Idaho sometime next year.

National Republicans have no doubt that Bush will win Idaho’s electoral votes. But Field said she thinks that taking Idaho for granted has hurt GOP fund-raising abilities.

In 2000, Bush raised more than four times as much money in Idaho as Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore did.

This year, Kerry’s Idaho supporters are raising money in record amounts – 815 percent more than state Democrats raised for Gore four years ago. The total of Bush’s Idaho donations this year is 122 percent more than he raised in the state in 2000.

Boise biologist Charles Blair said he and his wife decided early in the presidential race that their money best would be spent in trying to unseat Bush – even if it meant cash would be diverted from local Democrats the Blairs otherwise would have supported.

Like local Democrat Louis Uranga, who also donated to Kerry, the Blairs figured that a dollar from Idaho goes as far as a dollar from Ohio, Florida or any other swing state.

Field said she agrees, adding that she thinks the local Kerry support could help local Democrats.

“It has made a difference in the momentum,” she said. “I feel that for our state.”