A different kind of party candidate…

Perhaps the oddest thing about Keith Allred, the newly announced Democratic candidate for governor of Idaho, is that he’s not a Democrat. He’s not a Republican either.    Instead, the 45-year-old former Harvard professor and expert mediator is a passionate advocate for a grand experiment in returning the nation to its founders’ vision of government by the people, in ways that involve ordinary citizens in policy-making and skirt the special interests, including political parties. “I’m turned off by the extremes of both parties,” he said. “As a voter, I have been a committed and proud ticket-splitter all my life.” You can read my full story here at spokesman.com; Allred launched his campaign today with an announcement in Twin Falls.