Campaign ‘98

Slim pickin’

Talk about a berry bad year. First North Idaho Democrats can’t field challengers for seven of 18 legislative races. Then the Kootenai County branch of the family goes looking for huckleberries for their annual fund-raising “Huckleberry Social” in the worst berry season in modern history. The event was started 19 years ago by then Democratic legislator Art Manley, renowned as the best huckleberry sleuth in the area. But this year, Manley and pickers had to go freezer-to-freezer and buy enough hucks to get the 20 gallons necessary for the event. They purchased eight gallons. The lack of berries means door prizes are going to be half-gallons of the little purple fruits instead of the traditional larger size. But it’s still the only huckleberry social that really serves huckleberries, Manley says. It all happens Monday at the Lake City Senior Center, 7-9 p.m. Think the black bears, also hungering for more huckleberries, will outnumber the Democrats?

Tacky tack

The Kootenai County Fair and Rodeo brought candidates for nearly every major office to our neighborhood last week. Winner of the, well, most interesting ploy is none other than U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth, unabashed critic of Native American sovereignty. Chenoweth was pushing faux-Indian headdresses to the children of voters, complete with yellow “Chenoweth” head bands. Gotta wonder what the tribes, already leery of Chenoweth’s anti-native rhetoric, make of this marketing ploy. Another check to the Dan Williams campaign maybe?

High-flying debate

Democrat Bob Huntley failed in his attempt to get Republican U.S. Sen. Dirk Kempthorne to debate him multiple times this campaign season. But, by coincidence, both ended up on the same flight out of Denver during the one time this summer Huntley had to be out-of-state. And ended up three rows apart. Word is that the two had a thorough discussion. Unfortunately, it went over the heads of most voters.

Personal ad

Jeff Malmen, campaign manager for Dirk Kempthorne, isn’t quick to grab the biggest title. When asked recently how he identifies himself, Malmen quipped, “single, good looking.” Send us an invitation to the wedding, Jeff.

Mock bus?

You may remember that Bill Mauk, Democratic hopeful for U.S. Senate, was forced to repaint his campaign bus after some tipster pointed out a school bus could only legally remain yellow if it was still doing school duty. Mauk got the repainting done. But his campaign stickers still depict a yellow bus. Suppose the folks with nothing to do but make lots of little issues will now demand a remake of those?

Terminal illness

Term-limits backer Donna Weaver took to the fax machine this week to yell about the fact that “Idaho’s most powerful business lobbyist wrote the anti-term limits statement for the official state ballot pamphlet.” That’s the publication mailed to every voter. The allegedly sinning lobbyist is Steve Ahrens, president of the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry. Strange that Weaver would make “business lobbyist” a bad term, however. Her career was high finance and business consulting. Her husband was a big wheel at Clorox. How quickly they forget.