Yahoo Movies The Idaho Way: Democratic AG candidate has uphill battle to win statewide office
By Scott McIntosh, opinion editor
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Even with a couple of prominent Republicans as his state campaign chairs, Tom Arkoosh is going to have an uphill battle to win his statewide race for Idaho attorney general as a Democrat running against Republican Raúl Labrador.
A Democrat hasn’t won a statewide race in Idaho in 20 years, when Democrat Marilyn Howard defeated Republican Tom Luna in 2002 for superintendent of public instruction.
“Make no mistake about it,” former Republican Secretary of State Ben Ysursa said Tuesday as he was introduced as one of Arkoosh’s state campaign chairs. “This will be a very difficult race against a well-known and well-financed opponent.”
In addition to Ysursa, Arkoosh on Tuesday announced four other state campaign chairs: Republican Lydia Justice Edwards, Democrats Cherie Buckner-Webb and Tony Park, and independent Judi Danielson, formerly a Republican. It’s an impressive lineup, for sure. Ysursa was a longtime secretary of state, Danielson a Boise County commissioner, Republican legislator for 12 years and GOP caucus chair in the Senate.
As an aside, Ysursa on Tuesday stepped down from the Idaho Statesman editorial board to avoid any conflict of interest, especially as we head into endorsement season.
Park is a former attorney general, and Buckner-Webb was a longtime state legislator, including stints as Democratic caucus chair and assistant minority leader. Justice Edwards is a former Republican state legislator and state treasurer. That’s in addition to Arkoosh’s campaign treasurer Jim Jones, himself a Republican former attorney general and state Supreme Court chief justice who has of late railed against the direction his party has taken.
But will that be enough for a Democrat to defeat a well-known and well-funded Republican for statewide office in a deeply red state where registered Republicans outnumber registered Democrats more than 4-1?
You can read the rest of my column on this race here.
Keeping insulin prices high
Idaho’s Senate delegation shows no sign of cleaning up its act. It continues to put the interests of wealthy donors and the national Republican party ahead of the citizens of the state of Idaho.
Sen. Mike Crapo and Sen. Jim Risch voted against including a provision in the Inflation Reduction Act that would cap the monthly out-of-pocket costs for people who use insulin at $35.
Seven Republicans, either more concerned about their constituents’ welfare or more concerned they might lose a general election race, crossed party lines to support the effort. But not Crapo and Risch. They acted, along with only 41 other Republicans, to ensure people with diabetes will pay more.
You can read the rest of our editorial here.
What extremist language yields
The sentencing last week of a Greenleaf man who was arrested with bullets labeled with threats against Boise Mayor Lauren McLean, among others, shows how dangerous, hyperbolic rhetoric is causing some on the far right to become “radicalized extremists.”
It’s the result of the vitriolic political discourse we have today, in which you vilify, demonize and threaten those with whom you disagree.
Read our full editorial here on the dangers of our current political discourse.
Preventing mass shootings
Every time it happens, we know it won’t be the last, and we wait with dreaded anticipation for the next slaughter by guns. When we first hear of a mass shooting, we reach for ways to comprehend what just happened. We name the culprit: the gun, mental illness, vengeance, bullying, political alienation, to name just a few. But there is a proactive strategy that has shown some success in identifying mass shooters before they strike.
This week, Bob Kustra writes about behavior threat assessment programs, which could help prevent the next mass shooting.
I’m listening
Send me your story ideas, news tips, questions, comments, or anything else on your mind. You can reach me via email at smcintosh@idahostatesman.com.
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What you’re saying
This week, we received letters to the editor on climate progress, courageous Cheney, insulin woes and McGeachin’s fibs. You can read these and more letters by clicking here.
You can submit a letter to the editor or guest opinion by clicking here.
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