Posts published in January 2022

There was a line, in the middle of a well-crafted Politico story about the increasingly bitter conflict among Idaho Republicans, that highlighted an idea most Idahoans today would dismiss as fantasy. But the thought got at least some backup from Idaho’s state Republican leadership.

The idea is that Idaho’s Republican split might have the result of moving the state toward something closer to politically competitive.

It came in a discussion of the heated intra-party battles familiar in recent years to Idaho Republicans: “That threat, that ruby-red Idaho could somehow turn purple, may not be as far-fetched as it sounds. As recently as the mid-1990s, Democrats were still competitive in Idaho, even as many other western states, including Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico, were more strongly Republican. Those three are now blue spots on the electoral map.”

Before you dismiss that as just an ill-founded media report, consider the point - a smart analysis - from state Republican Chair Tom Luna, who noted that those three states back in the 90s, like Idaho today, could be described as “a fast-growing state where Republicans were fighting with each other.”

In further support, I’ll throw out as well a bit of history from a generation before that.

It’s found in a new book (disclosure: I have just published it) called An Idaho Democrat, written by a Democrat who, years ago, won major office in the state and did well politically when that wasn’t supposed to happen. He describes the shifts and transitions in Idaho politics over the last few generations, and some of the granular detail that made Idaho politics different in the middle of the last century.

The Democrat is Tony Park, once the state’s attorney general (he held that office when I moved to Idaho in 1974) and has been active in the state’s politics since the 50s. The title of his book isn’t inadvertent: It is very much about what running and serving as a Democrat in Idaho is like and about.

He had some interest in politics from his high-school days and was a regular contributor of irritated letters to the editor of the Idaho Statesman, which was staunchly conservative then; Park had come up as an admirer of Frank Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

After starting his law practice in Boise, he got involved in local politics, and quickly realized he hadn’t chosen an easy path: “I was extremely ambitious, but the prospects for a Democrat in Boise in the early to mid-sixties were not promising. Ada County was solidly Republican, as was the state.” Ada County had not elected a Democrat to the legislature or the county courthouse in decades, and those places were his initial targets. Ada County was a sufficiently tough nut to crack for Democrats in those days that Frank Church lost a race for the state legislature before, a few years later, winning statewide for the U.S. Senate.

So he doesn’t sound surprised - not in retrospect but probably not at the time either - that he didn’t win those early races, for Ada County prosecutor in 1964 and the Idaho House in 1966. He learned about campaigning, however, and kept his losses closer than Ada County Democrats usually had. He also became involved in intensively organizing local Democrats well beyond what they’d done before.

In a day when voters were willing to split their ballots, as many did, steady campaigning and organizing made a difference. In 1970 Park saw enough progress that as Democrats looked around for a candidate to oppose an appointed Republican attorney general, he said he was interested. The Republicans, who had seen their party fractured in 1966, remained so in 1970, while the Democrats - who had been split significantly in 1966 - largely had patched up their differences.

“The more I looked at it, the better I liked it,” Park wrote, and he wound up winning; most of the statewide offices would go to Democrats that year.

Is there a lesson here for politics now?

It matters whether you’re organized, whether you’re campaigning hard on the ground and keeping in close touch with people, and whether your side or your opposition is united or divided.

Even in these odd days for politics, some of the basics are eternal.
 

If former Idaho Sen. Steve Symms had played his cards right over the last 30 years, and kept running for re-election, he could still be in the Senate today.
And why not? Symms is 83 years old, just a few years older than President Biden, his mind is sharp, and he holds strong with his conservative views. He remains plugged into politics through his longtime association with a Washington-based lobbying group.

“My life is pretty simple,” Symms says. “I spend a lot of time with my wife, Loretta, children and grandchildren.”

Back in the day, supporters loved his brash style. Symms was elected to Congress in 1972 when he was in his early 30s and became a giant killer eight years later, riding the Ronald Reagan revolution and knocking out longtime Democratic Sen. Frank Church. Six years later, he defeated Gov. John Evans in another tight race.
But that election was the beginning of the end of his political career. “After the election, I said that one good thing was that I won’t have to do this again – and people were shocked,” Symms said. “I told them that I was going to do my job in the Senate, then get out.”

There were things he liked about the job, for sure. “Campaigning was like a sporting event to me – I loved it.” He also enjoyed the friendly banter with political reporters, such as myself during my time at the Post Register. He was one of the more accessible, and least-guarded politicians I worked with.

“A lot of people who serve like to attend meetings and talk with heads of state. They thrive on it. To me, that was torture. I was so glad when I wasn’t running again,” he said. “I also thought it would be good to give someone else a chance to serve. I’ve known others who have been in so long that they can’t quit – that’s what happens to some people.”

Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo appears to be at that point of no return, with his life revolving around Capitol Hill and the Washington Beltway. His wife, Susan, who never followed him to Washington since his election to Congress in 1992, spends much of her time with family in Utah.

So, coming “home” for Crapo means staying in hotel rooms in Lewiston, Coeur d’Alene or wherever he might be. And with him having one of the safest Senate seats in the country, there’s no reason for extended stays in stuffy hotel rooms – or attending things like Republican Party Central Committee meetings, which is practically a requirement for at least some office holders.

But Crapo is far beyond needing to cozy up to a GOP central committee. He has a $5 million bankroll to scare away any serious opposition, and state party leaders surely will support him over any Democrat that runs.

Crapo is not wired the same as Symms. Crapo seems to thrive on the minutia of Senate business, and less on the mixing and mingling that go with campaigns. From my end, it’s next to impossible to line up an interview with Crapo – and I’ve known him for almost 40 years.

It’s not surprising that his re-election announcement came via press release; for him it’s standard operating procedure. He has a small army of writers who churn out releases highlighting the senior senator’s accomplishments for bankers, farmers, rural schools. If he holds a news conference, it’s with fellow Republicans on Capitol Hill complaining about Biden’s policies.

There’s no spontaneity with Crapo. It’s all controlled.

But again, with a safe seat, there’s no reason for him to change. Republican leaders love him because he doesn’t make waves, and his congenial nature makes it easy for Democrats to work with him on bipartisan issues. Symms includes himself in the “I like Mike” club.

“I think he’s a good senator – a Harvard law graduate and smart as hell,” said Symms. “From what I see, he has one of the most conservative voting records in the Senate. He’s a guy who can work with other people, knows how the game is played and what to do.”

So, will Crapo still be in the Senate at age 83? My guess is that he’ll be there well into his 80s, assuming that his health is sound.
He really has nowhere else to go.

ctmalloy@outlook. Chuck Malloy is a long-time Idaho journalist and columnist. He may be reached at ctmalloy@outlook.com