The Democrats Unite for Defeat

Well, Thursday was the day the media and the Democratic Party began their battle on Bill Sali. First, the Idaho Statesman:

• The Kuna Republican won a bitter six-way primary with an unimpressive 26 percent of the vote. Yes, all six candidates ran assertive campaigns. And yes, Idaho’s open primaries invite crossover voting from cantankerous independents and mischievous Democrats. But nearly three fourths of everyone who voted in the GOP primary chose someone other than Sali.

• Let’s look at the voters who chose Sali. He received 18,965 votes. Those aren’t enough voters to fill Bronco Stadium to two-thirds capacity — and they don’t constitute a power base.

To put Sali’s vote count into perspective, let’s look back to 2000, the last time Republicans decided an open race in the 1st Congressional District. C.L. “Butch” Otter won an eight-way primary (albeit a field supersized with five fringe candidates) and emerged with a base. He collected 41,516 votes, more than twice as many votes as Sali received Tuesday.

Yeah, and Butch Otter had been elected Statewide 4 times prior to that. Sorry, that was an inconvenient fact that was left out of the piece.

In April, House Speaker Bruce Newcomb dismissed Sali with the soundbite of the 2006 session: “That idiot is just an absolute idiot.” On Wednesday, Newcomb’s feelings were barely under the surface. The Burley Republican said he was “disappointed,” said the nomination “leaves an opening for a Democrat,” and wouldn’t say whether he would support Sali. “I don’t want to make any comments yet.”

By not commenting, Newcomb says plenty. And this isn’t an isolated fight between two strong political personalities. Sali has irritated other Republicans, including, notably, 2nd Congressional District Rep. Mike Simpson.

Otter and Sens. Mike Crapo and Larry Craig have offered their help this fall, Sali said Wednesday, but Sali says he hasn’t yet spoken to Simpson. “He’s on my list of people to call.”

Sali’s outsider style fits a congressional district that loves a maverick — from Steve Symms to Helen Chenoweth-Hage to Otter. But even mavericks need to know how to build a constituency. Sali hasn’t yet demonstrated this skill.

Yeah, other politicians don’t like him, that’s a great argument for not supporting him. If Sali doesn’t win, then that will really raise a lot of questions for Conservatives about being loyal to the Party. If the party doesn’t back Conservative candidates. Why should Conservatives help moderates who get the nod. “Calling Phil Batt! Calling Phil Batt!” You need to take Simpson and Newcombe to the woodshed for a little talk.

The Statesman writes further:

Larry Grant, Sali’s Democratic opponent, poses a formidable challenge. He’s articulate and analytical, befitting his former career as attorney and vice president at Micron Technology. Sali labels the race “a classic matchup between a liberal Democrat and a conservative Republican,” while Grant calls himself a fiscal conservative and a social moderate. If Grant makes his case to voters, he could win over Democrats, independents and Sorensen Republicans.

They forgot to put at the end of that, “We hope, we hope.”

Meanwhile Alan at IdaBlue laments that we chose an ineffective legislator:

It’s great to elect someone who thumps the tub, pounds the table with a shoe and talks a great game. And if we want someone who talks pretty but doesn’t bring home the bacon, Sali/Chenoweth/Symms is our man. (Recall that Chenoweth wanted to be addressed as Congressman.)

But if we want someone who will actually accomplish legislation, we struck out. Sali was pretty much ineffective in the Idaho legislature in 16 years, and I’m sure we can count on lots of windy high-falutin’, anti-abortion, tax-cuttin’ rhetoric from him if he gets to Washington. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to count on him getting any legislation that will help Idahoans passed. Like Symms. Like Chenoweth. Oops, we did it again.

Of course, Alan opposes Sali because he’d be ineffective at passing legislation to privatize Social Security or open up wilderness. Well, maybe that’s not what he means.

After all, bring home the bacon generally refers to good old spending in the district. I’m sure he’ll clarify what he was talking about, but as I read it, the part of fiscal responsibility is afraid that Idaho will lack a Congressman who can increase the deficit and burden on future generations by not being able to deliver pork barrel projects.

Alan is optomistic however in a post called “Sali has Weaknesses”. Suggestion one, t-shirts and dunce caps:

To overcome that, Sali’s weaknesses must be exploited, and he has some. I hope Grant continually notes the lack of Idaho R support for Sali. The Idaho R party leaders will not be endorsing him, or giving him money, and I think it will be effective to note the conspicuous absence of local support for Sali. I’d also try to get a decent “Rs for Grant” list; shouldn’t be too hard.

I agree with AK at the Sniff Test that someone ought to print up T-shirts with Newcomb’s “idiot” quote. I’d also like to see someone (or lots of them) wear that t-shirt and a huge dunce cap lettered “The Village Idiot”, to all of Sali’s events. Great visual.

Because, as we know, everybody knows and cares who Bruce Newcombe is! As Alan continues the decline into the low gutter of political attacks, it gets worse:

I’d also be ready, and here’s where bloggers can really help, to highlight Sali’s statements about being brain-damaged. He admitted this, but then went on to say, in effect, that it doesn’t take much brain power to be a legislator. Some 525 group could have a heyday with this statement. Popkey has referred to it from time to time. Grant ought to stay away from it but, taking a page from the Bush playbook, a surrogate could Swiftboat Sali with the statement. Either Sali was truthful about being brain damaged, or he was lying to advance his lawsuit.

Now, there’s a big story going on about a California legislative candidate running against his opponent because he could die of heart disease. Come on, Idaho Bloggers, according Alan you liberals have nothing better to do than paraphrase the ad by saying, “Bill Sali doesn’t have the brains to serve in the State legislature.”

There’s nothing like saying that people with minor disabilities can’t do anything and should be thrown on the scrap heap of life to reflect the Spirit of Tolerance within the Democratic Party. Yes, Bill Sali may have some brain damage. No, that damage isn’t stopping him from living his life. He’s found ways to adjust, he’s found ways to gain the confidence of so many in the Conservative movement.

You know what I miss in all this, The case for Larry Grant. Yeah, Alan is scared to death of Bill Sali, but the idea of talking about what a strong candidate they have in Larry Grant somehow doesn’t make Alan’s list. What this seems to indicate is that the Dems have a weak candidate and their hope is to spend the next few months attacking Bill Sali in the hopes that they can trash him enough to win. At least, that would appear to be Alan’s strategy so far.

Meanwhile, Julie Fanselow who blogs for Grant had news on the Democratic Party getting together to hold a unity celebration. This was such big news that the title and two of the four paragraphs for the blog entry were dedicated to Bruce Newcombe showing up to the Capitol being asked by reporters about supporting Sali and responding comment.

Maybe, the Democrats will get better but if this is what we’re dealing with come November, it should be Sali all the way, much to the chagrin of the liberal press.

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