Bloggers’ questions go right to source

Congressman Bill Sali and I made Idaho history last week, as far as I know. On Thursday, I interviewed him online by telephone from his Washington, D.C., office, after soliciting questions from my blog readers and Idaho bloggers. This, shortly after he cast a key vote supporting President Bush’s veto of children’s health care legislation. It might have been the first time a blogger has interviewed an Idaho congressman live online with questions provided by a statewide audience. I was impressed by Sali’s candor and wit. I asked him for his thoughts on the lousy rating of Congress (11 percent) and President Bush (24 percent) in a recent poll. “I think the American public might be gracious,” he responded. Sali told Huckleberries Online that he doesn’t have time to blog or read blogs – a subject that provided blog fodder statewide recently when U.S. Senate wannabes Demo Larry LaRocco (yes) and Repub Lt. Gov. Jim Risch (no) were asked the same questions. Also, he said he only saw a small portion of Matt Lauer’s NBC interview with embattled U.S. Sen. Larry Craig and hoped his wife had recorded it for later viewing. On other matters, Sali said: “the best thing I can do for the people of Idaho is to help Sen. Craig be as effective as possible.” And: “We’re making real progress over there (Iraq).” And, when asked to compare himself with the late Helen Chenoweth-Hage: “Helen was such a classy woman. I’m not sure I’m classy.” Congressman Sali saved his best for the last question: “What’s it like for Bill Sali to sit in a chamber that is presided over by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi?” He responded: “Honestly, Nancy Pelosi is not in the chair most of the time. Ninety-five percent of the time, I never see Nancy Pelosi. And I’m fine with that.” You can read the entire interview for yourself at Huckleberries Online this morning.