Also in the Sunday Statesman, Dan Popkey wrote about who might replace House Speaker Bruce Newcomb. He seems to think the chief candidates are Bill Deal (69) of Nampa and Lawerence Denny (58 Midvale). Popkey says that of the two, Denny is more conservative than Newcomb.
I keep hoping that the pendulum will swing back from such strict conservatism toward moderates, but it isn't so far. Statesman reporter Gregory Hahn reports that an abortion bill, requiring parental consent, will be introduced on Monday.
A few years back the Repubs pushed an abortion agenda and the next election Dems made big gains in both houses. Perhaps this might also hurt the Repubs in next election. Even in Idaho folks are less happy with Repub leadership than they have been in quite a while, so this could be a good year for Dems, if they are able to capitalize on their opportunities.
I wonder, though. Apparently national Rs and the Bush administration have decided to feature military whenever they can, including at campaign events, to try to take advantage of the popularity of our military. I returned from an 18 month deployment, with a year in Iraq, in Nov 05. Upon hearing of the Rs plan to feature military, I sent emails to both the Ada County Dems and the Idaho State Dem party (using the contact addresses on their websites), offering myself as a Iraq vet to assist IdaDems, to show that not all vets are Rs.
I did not get any response from either group. So, either they aren't checking their email, or they totally blew off my offer and didn't even bother to acknowledge that they had received it. I didn't really expect them to take me up on it, but I thought I'd at least get "Thanks. We'll let you know if we need you."
From this I wonder about how well organized our Idaho Dem parties are. BTW, I kept, and am still keeping, a blog about my deployment and the aftermath at www.mreater.blogspot.com.
3 comments:
Frankly, I am not surprised the state party didn't respond. They seem to be in their own little world and have little to no concern about the real Democrats in this state, and by real, I mean actual people, not some id number on VAN. Until they clean up their act, I will gladly give my money to the DNC or the Utah Democratic Party-someone who listens!
How far are you willing/able to travel? We would LOVE to have you at an event.
To anonymous AND Alan:
I'm so sorry that you have had a negative experience with the State party. I have really had positive experiences (I'm not officially involved, just help out where I can.) I hope that things change for you both. I know that they've added more people to the state office and are trying to make changes.
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