With 1.6 million people spread out across the state, Idaho has just two members of the U.S. House of Representatives - Republicans Mike Simpson and Raul Labrador. For the past six months, the Idaho Statesman's Bill Denzter reported Monday, these two have not spoken to each other. That's a new twist on an old conflict. Simpson is a confidant of outgoing House Speaker John Boehner. Labrador is a member of the House Freedom Caucus, which has claimed Boehner's scalp. Simpson has been a man of the House - first in the Idaho Capitol, where he served as speaker, and then in Washington, D.C., where he's become a "cardinal" - one of the appropriation subcommittee chairmen. Labrador has been an architect of the government shutdowns that mark his five years in office/Marty Trillhaase, Lewiston Tribune. More here.

Question: I guess I could argue that Idaho would be helped if Simpson and Labrador worked together to get things accomplished. But I'd rather have Congressman Simpson as a maverick in our Idaho delegation than to have he fall in with the Far Right group think of the other three. Thoughts?