Arrogance Doesn’T Sit Well With Voters

Here we go again.

Two years ago, U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, pulled the old Mohammed Ali rope-a-dope trick. You know: bob, weave and use the ropes while your opponent gets frustrated and punches himself out. In politics, this means a front-running candidate like Craig keeps the challenger at bay and cuts his exposure to a lucky knockout punch by debating him as little as possible.

In Craig’s case, it worked, as the incumbent easily beat a seemingly formidable Democrat to win re-election.

The lesson wasn’t lost on Republican Dirk Kempthorne, Idaho’s junior U.S. senator, who’s an odds-on favorite to win the seat of retiring Gov. Phil Batt. Kempthorne claims, with a straight face, that his U.S. Senate duties will keep him too busy this fall to participate in more than one debate with underdog Democrat Robert Huntley.

What arrogance from a man who’d like Idahoans to believe he’s just an ordinary Joe. It’d serve Kempthorne right if North Idaho voters resolve not to support a candidate who doesn’t have time to debate his opponent in the Panhandle. After all, a job applicant shouldn’t be hired without showing up for his interview.

At this point, Kempthorne has agreed to only one debate, the traditional late October one sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the Idaho Press Club. The debate, to be broadcast statewide by Idaho Public Television, likely will focus on statewide and Boise issues, and not regional ones that are important in other parts of the state.

North Idahoans, for example, have a right to hear the candidates discuss field burning, possible expansion of the Silver Valley Superfund site, the Coeur d’Alene Indian Tribe’s bid to buy the old Greyhound Park at Post Falls and how the candidates will deal with the state’s racists.

Strangely, Kempthorne, a lame-duck senator, says he doesn’t have time to debate when other major candidates have made it a priority to do so. In the U.S. Senate race, U.S. Rep. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, will meet Democrat Bill Mauk in at least four debates. In the U.S. House race, Democrat Richard Stallings and Republican Mike Simpson also will square off several times.

What makes Kempthorne’s stance even more outlandish is that six years ago, Stallings interrupted his busy schedule in the U.S. House to debate Kempthorne eight times. At the time, Kempthorne said: “These debates will give give Idaho voters a chance to hear a direct and open exchange of ideas on the issues facing the state and the nation.”

Kempthorne’s own words haunt him now, as he plays keep away from Huntley - and the people of North Idaho.