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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Students Get D, As In Democrat, In Mock Election Seniors At Lakeland High Boot Dole, Chenoweth, Craig

The results are in and Dole, Chenoweth and Craig are out.

Now don’t get in a lather. Nothing’s official except that Lakeland High School’s senior class prefers Democrats. The students proved it in a mock election this week.

“I’m surprised,” said Mark Johnson, the government and U.S. history teacher who organized Wednesday’s election. “Those results are from a fairly conservative area … I don’t know if they’re a real good predictor.”

Larry Kenck, candidate for state senate, sure hopes they are. He trounced incumbent state Sen. Clyde Boatwright 101 votes to 67 in the student election.

“I think it’s a great omen,” Kenck said Friday. “Clyde’s from that area so it should be a stronger precinct for him. I’m real pleased and honored.”

Kenck and Boatwright debated and answered questions for nearly an hour in front of the seniors a few weeks ago. So did Kootenai County Board of Commissioner candidates Chuck Sheroke and Ronald Rankin.

Students chose Sheroke over Rankin 97 votes to 49. Four wrote in incumbent commissioner Bob Macdonald’s name.

The win energized Sheroke, who admitted he’s exhausted from campaigning.

“I’m elated,” he said. “From their questions, it’s clear they know what’s going on. This means they agree with the positions I take.”

Some Republicans managed to win over the students. Grass grower and local Wayne Meyer’s defeat of Coeur d’Alene lawyer Marc McGregor for state representative was no surprise, although a quarter of the class chose not to vote in that race.

Students chose Republican Commissioner Dick Compton over Rollin Putzier 74 votes to 55. But incumbent Sheriff Pierce Clegg, a Republican, barely squeaked out a victory over Karl Thompson 71 votes to 69.

Rankin’s crusade to limit property taxes was completely lost on the kids. They trashed Proposition One with 120 votes against it to 47 in favor.

“They’re seniors and none of them own property,” Johnson said. “But they’re worried about going to school.”

They split on bear-baiting with 89 for the initiative and 81 against it and on the nuclear waste initiative with 78 for it and 89 against it. Term limits also got the nod from the students with 86 for the initiative and 74 against it.

Lakeland may have given President Clinton the only victory he’ll ever see in Idaho. The presidential race drew 183 votes; 69 of those went to Clinton, 60 to Dole and 38 to Perot. The rest were divided between three candidates from smaller parties.

The seniors chose Democrat Walt Minnick over incumbent Larry Craig 83 votes to 73 in the U.S. Senate race and Democrat Dan Williams over incumbent Republican Helen Chenoweth 37 votes to 29 in the race for the District 1 congressional seat.

Students even preferred Democrat Barbara Chamberlain in North Idaho College’s non-partisan board of trustees race.

Despite the results, Republican candidates have little to worry about. Johnson said only about 25 of the seniors are 18.

, DataTimes