Ben Stein, the former Nixon speechwriter famous for his role as the economics instructor in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” feels our pain as he suffers from heat at his Sandpoint getaway. Before praising Pat Buchanan’s new book about Richard Nixon, Stein writes in the American Spectator: “The real problem is the humidity though. We left D.C. to escape the humidity. It was unbearable, like being in a steam room with your suit and tie on. We do not have much humidity in L.A., but we sure have plenty of it here in North Idaho this summer.” Conversely, Stein said he enjoys “the incredibly tasty kettle corn” and posing for photos with the friendly people at Sandpoint City Beach. Then, there’s “Lake Pend Oreille, limitless cool blue expanse of water, blue sky, clouds, and mountain forests.” In a parting salute to the region, Stein tells of his “brilliant, world-traveling sister” who had just concluded a trip to Tanzania. She told him that Tanzania is beautiful but no more beautiful than North Idaho – to which Stein adds: “No place is.” And all God’s over-heated children in our piece of paradise responded: Amen. A promise fulfilled: State Rep. Holli Woodings, D-Boise, has already fulfilled one campaign promise in her uphill battle for secretary of state against former House Speaker Lawerence “Boss” Denney. To her 3-year-old daughter, Mary. Rep. Woodings, who also has a baby son, was traveling with Mary last week when she visited Coeur d’Alene. Woodings told Huckleberries that she gets lonely for her family when she’s traveling around the state alone. On Monday, Woodings made her third campaign visit to the Lake City. During an earlier visit, Hollings promised her daughter that she could play in the new McEuen Park splash pad next time they visited Coeur d’Alene – weather permitting. The weather was outstanding on Monday. So the Boise Democrat kept her promise. Not many politicians do that.

State Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, who was KO’d in the GOP primary during his ongoing battle with the IRS and Idaho Tax Commission over $600,000 in unpaid income taxes, remains unbowed. On the morning of the Fourth of July, Hart joined in the reading of the Declaration of Independence at Independence Point in downtown Coeur d’Alene. The event was advertised by the Kootenai County Republicans, who are standing by their man, even as Hart files a Chapter 13 bankruptcy plan.

Five of the 13 incorporated towns in Kootenai County fell below the electoral “Mendoza Line” on Election Day, Nov. 8 – with voter turnouts of less than 20 percent. The Mendoza Line, for those of you who don’t follow Major League Baseball, represents a dismal batting average of .200 – or about the career average of former Seattle Mariner Mario Mendoza.

BOISE – Two ousted Huetter politicians are back. The Idaho Supreme Court has reversed a Kootenai County judge who disqualified the 2007 candidates, Mayor-elect Bradley Keene and Councilor Jennifer Brown, because of challenges to their voter registration.

The Idaho Supreme Court has reversed a Kootenai County judge who held that two candidates who were elected mayor and city councilor in the tiny town of Huetter in 2007 were disqualified from office because of challenges to their voter registration.

Efforts to save the historic Huetter House, part of the Bishop White Seminary, took a step forward earlier this month when Gonzaga University filed notices to move the historic house and redevelop its existing site with a new seminary. In a letter on March 10, a Gonzaga official told neighbors that it is moving ahead with plans for relocating the Huetter House by obtaining a conditional-use permit from the city to reuse it at a new location one lot to the east.