Natural alliances

It seems to me that the Idaho Dems fail to take advantage of many opportunities. Admittedly, it might not be that they are failing at it, rather that they just can’t succeed. They may have good ideas or strategies but simply be unable to capitalize on them because of lack of resources.

I’m trying to say that IdaDems just might not have the ability to get the message out because of too few Dems or insufficient money.

Still, I just don’t see them even trying in many cases. For example, the Bush administration is talking about selling public land to raise money. Otter even supported this, for a while. This seems a great opportunity to build the voter base.

The conservationist wing of the IdaDems is a natural ally of hunters and fishers. If Dems would vociferously attack the sell off plan, and be sure to say along the way that the public lands need to be left open for recreation, they would accomplish two things. One, they might attract some votes from the ranks of hunters and fishers, and two, they could begin cast off the “radical environmentalist” label.

IdaDems are suspected of supporting the radical environmentalist agenda, and of course, IdaRepubs promote this. Repubs have been successful in selling conservation efforts as locking up land so that only hikers can get to it.

So if I were a big wheel in IdaDem politics, I’d get everyone to talk about locking up land by selling it to rich out of staters, and to say that public lands need to be open to the public for hunting (always lead with hunting, this would also tend to get past the anti-gun label), fishing, camping and family recreation.

I think the Dems in the legislature ought to sponsor a resolution against selling the public lands. Meaningless, but sends a great message.