Rammell’s Future

From Eye on Boise:

Independent U.S. Senate candidate Rex Rammell, who’s staying home in Rexburg to watch the results tonight, told Eye on Boise, “I’m not expecting to win. I’ve been playing for the future for a while.” Rammell said he’ll likely run for office again, and figures he’ll have a boost in organization and name recognition from his run this year. “I really failed in the money department,” he said. “I wasn’t able to run any ads in the home stretch, and that’s really hurt me. But I think I did a pretty decent job of getting my name into the race, and I think there’s gonna be a lot more people know who I am and what I stand for, and it’ll set me up for the future.”

Rammel’s future in Idaho politics is difficult to see. Certainly running as an Independent for the U.S. Senate will not boost him with people in the GOP leadership. His best shot for success is to run for County Commission or Legislature. He could also run a primary against Butch Otter. Otter’s not liked by everybody in the party. 30% of the Republican Primary vote in 2006 didn’t go to Otter and Otter’s not been quite what a lot of folks expected in terms of being a Libertarian. I don’t imagine that Rammell would win, but he would get closer to being Governor than he did to being Senator.