Given that Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) is already facing one primary challenge from the right, he needs to do a better job of keeping his staff under control:
Army Reserve Capt. Jon Soltz, 29, and former 101st Airborne Division Sgt. Joe Kramer, 31, say Chief of Staff Mike Ware raised his voice or yelled at them and pointed at them during a scheduled meeting in Craig’s office.
The two soldiers and two other Iraq war veterans with the anti-war group VoteVets met with Ware and Craig’s legislative assistant for military affairs. Craig spokesman Dan Whiting said the men agreed to disagree before the soldiers left after about a 30-minute meeting. But Soltz and Kramer said Ware went too far.
"It’s probably the most unprofessional thing I’ve ever heard from a chief of staff of a U.S. senator," Soltz said. "I told him it was rather unprofessional to yell at a soldier who fought for our country."
Craig is already facing a primary opponent in Canyon County Commissioner Robert Vasquez, a rabid anti-immigration agitator who declared back in October. Perhaps not coincidentally, this report comes from the Idaho Press-Tribune, located in the heart of Canyon County. Beyond Vasquez, however, there's also a rumor floating around the state that the Club for Growth just might be looking at bigger things for their boy Bill Sali, currently disgracing Idaho as the congressman for the first district, and might be considering bankrolling his primary challenge of Craig. The persistent rumors about Craig's personal life have been the worst kept secret in Idaho politics, but have never been taken particularly seriously, or used by a political opponent. Sali or Vasquez would be unlikely to be all that reticent to use the rumors if they thought it could give them an inroad.
A run at Craig from the right is likely the biggest fearing weighing on the Senator's mind these days. By all accounts, he's planning on running again. If so, he's got to keep his staff from pulling another Conrad Burns-like attack on Iraq war veterans. Because dissing Iraq War veterans is even worse than dissing firefighters.