Inside Huckleberries — 11/8/06

*The Gallatin Group provides a behind-the-scenes view of the Northwest’s winners and losers from yesterday’s elections here . Hat Tip: Becky Nappi

*Back to the Future BCommish wannabe Bud Mueller hung up on SReporter Erica Curless when she called for comment today, muttering something re: You guys wouldn’t get what I said right anyway.

*A group of Coeur d’Alene High School students in the school’s “Key Club” - a public service group - is holding a clothing drive this week to help the homeless. The teens had planned on spending Friday night on the football field using cardboard boxes as makeshift shelters. They were going to call it “Dare to Bare the Cold.” Thing is, it was postponed. Why? Bad weather. Hat Tip: Meghann Cuniff

*Congressman-elect Bill Sali has won factcheck.org’s “Who Needs Enemies Award” for being the target of that accurate advertisement in which fellow Repubs call him names here . Hat Tip: Opinion Editor Doug Floyd.

* Cameraman sends a link from Salon that lists his home away from home, Rexburg, Idaho, as the reddest place in America here .

*Overheard on radio from Al Franken : “I don’t want to toot our own horn, but it was all Air America. Now we can finally go bankrupt. What? We are? I guess we already are.” Hat Tip: Jesse Tinsley.

*How bad was it for Republicans nationwide last night. In South Dakota, a dead Demo challenger defeated an incumbent Repub commissioner here . Hat Tip: Sherry Atkins.

*Remember how someone was bragging online last night re: the impact of his direct mailing in Bonner County? Well, here’s an interesting number from the Bonner County final results: Larry Grant and Jerry Brady did better in Bonner County than Kootenai County. Bill Sali beat Grant by only 37 votes in B.C. and Otter finished only 428 votes ahead of Brady in B.C. Otter and Sali each won by around 400 votes in Kootenai County.