Things were upbeat at the Idaho Democratic Party’s gathering in downtown Boise tonight, where a casually dressed crowd was glorying in strong primary wins by standard-bearers Jerry Brady for governor and Larry Grant for Congress. “We’re going to have a very vigorous, strong, issue-specific and aggressive campaign,” Brady said amid the noise of the crowd, as state party Chairman Richard Stallings took the stage. Stallings assailed the Republicans for their knock-down, drag-out congressional primary. Meanwhile, a Democrat pushing a bicycle through the crowd didn’t look out of place, and a baby’s portable playpen was tucked into a spot at the side of the crowded room.

A few miles away, things were a little more formal at the Idaho Republican Party’s election night bash, where one Republican carried a large American flag on a pole around the Red Lion Riverside Hotel ballroom, and a dressier crowd mixed with the occasional cowboy-hatted supporter. Republicans lined up at big TV screens to watch the results come in, while munching on hors d’oeuvres. Donna Jones, who was leading in the primary for state controller, posed happily with her daughter, who she said she talked into coming at the last minute. The walls were covered with campaign signs for the various candidates, and the hallways with signs pointing to each candidate’s hospitality suite, of which there were many.

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