Among the comments in the candidates' closing statements: Ted Dunlap said, "I stand for smaller government in every aspect." Jana Kemp said, "Are you really willing to trust a person who's running as a Democrat and says he's not one? ... If neither of these two cowboys, dare I say, are appealing, and you want somebody who will do the best job for Idaho, then vote for me." Keith Allred said, "I'm proud to be independent and I'm proud of the Democratic Party who would nominate an independent. ... Butch Otter has a problem. ... He's running against somebody who's more serious about cutting taxes than he is." Otter said, "This is serious business, this is no time for theory, no time for 'maybe it'll work.' ... The choice had to be made because there's only two ways that you can balance the budget, you either cut the government or you increase the tax load for the citizenry. We chose the former."