Lawmaker Says Power Flows North

To hear State Sen. Jack Riggs talk, North Idaho is the up-and-coming political force in this state.

He’s reciting lots of statistics, such as the fact that fast-growing Kootenai County now has more than 10 percent of the state’s population and that projections show it will surpass Canyon County and become the state’s second-most populous county within a decade.

A significant portion of Idaho’s voters now live north of the Boise power center, Riggs says.

So would this be the musings of a legislator looking at his area’s influence, or of someone looking at their possible base for a run for governor in 2006?

That’s the year term limits would force Gov.-elect Dirk Kempthorne from office.

Vote for whatsername

It was clear that some of the callers trying to help get out the vote across the state this year were hired outsiders, not local volunteers. Like the one who called down here and urged a vote “for Dirk Kempthorne and the rest of the Republican ticket,” but when questioned, had never heard of Helen Chenoweth.

Her excuse: “I’m just reading from a script.”

This party, that party, they’re all parties

In Boise, each of the two major parties holds a big election-night gathering where their candidates watch the returns, mix with the crowd and give interviews throughout the evening. The local TV stations broadcast live from the Democratic and Republican bashes, as do several radio stations.

So where’s a candidate from the Reform party to go?

Latham Williams, the Reform Party candidate for state treasurer, and party chairman Gary Allen figured that out. They announced they’d go to both - and be available for interviews at either spot.

An enemy at the table?

Mike Medberry, director of a League of Conservation Voters independent campaign against Helen Chenoweth, showed up at Chenoweth’s suite on election night, upstairs from the big Republican celebration.

“He ate some of our food,” huffed a Chenoweth supporter.

It’s almost (yawn) the big moment

The oddest disappearing act of the night was pulled by Gov.-elect Dirk Kempthorne, who never showed his face until nearly 11 p.m., though he’d been declared the winner shortly after 8 p.m.

That meant two hours of live television coverage, complete with all the other candidates’ thoughts about how they felt as the returns came in, what they believe in, their thoughts about their opponents, etc., didn’t include a thing from the new Guv.

At one point, a TV reporter actually asked Democrat Bob Huntley the question he’s made something of a slogan throughout his campaign, “Where’s Dirk?”

An additional twist: Southern Idahoans watch their TV news at 10 p.m., not 11 like most regions. So the average Joe who watches the news and then gives up had already tuned out and turned in before Kempthorne emerged.