Critics have claimed that state Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, is wasting her time challenging Congressman Raul Labrador, R-Idaho.
Here is the background. According to Betsy Z. Russell of The Spokesman-Review:
Longtime Idaho state Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, announced Monday that she’ll seek Idaho’s 1st District congressional seat in 2014, the first opponent to emerge for second-term GOP Rep. Raul Labrador.
Labrador, a high-profile tea party favorite, just announced last week that he’ll run for a third term in Congress, rather than run for governor of Idaho, in an effort to quiet speculation that he said was getting out of hand.
Ringo, a former longtime high school math teacher who holds a key seat on the Legislature’s joint budget committee, said, “We all know that Congress doesn’t have a very positive approval rating at this time, with their inability to compromise and get things done. And I have the sense that Congressman Labrador is part of the problem.”
While Ringo acknowledges that she faces an “uphill battle” as a member of Idaho’s small Democratic minority, she’s talked with moderate Republicans who are “not particularly happy with the direction that some of the more extreme members of their party are taking.”
"... you’ve not seen this kind of political dynamic in Idaho for some time," writes Marty Trillhasse of The Lewiston Tribune. The columnist points out several reasons why Labrador will not have a cakewalk back to his third term in Congress.
First, he points to Ringo's experience, noting that she may be the most tenured Idaho candidate for Congress since then Idaho House Speaker Mike Simpson embarked on his congressional career 15 years ago. She has served seven terms in the Legislature. Also noted was the fact that Ringo "has the enlightening experience of losing a re-election campaign only to come back and win the next time. Perched on the budget-writing and Joint Legislative Oversight committees, Ringo knows where the bodies are buried."
Ringo also has the benefit of:
Message – Ringo is something rare in Idaho politics – an unashamed Democrat. Count the list of candidates who have run away from that label. Whether it was former Congressman Walt Minnick or the party’s 2010 gubernatorial nominee Keith Allred, it hasn’t worked. The base of true believers sit on their hands while moderate Republicans stay loyal to the GOP. ... So when she’s accused of being a tax-and-spend liberal, Ringo could just say something Idahoans haven’t heard for a generation: It’s the politically connected who aren’t paying taxes while your children’s education has been short-changed. Twenty years of Republican rule has left Idaho spiraling into a low-wage economy. Have you had enough?
Ringo's bio is impressive and includes these heartfelt messages:
My teaching career was challenging and interesting. This career included teaching mathematics for eight years at Madison Junior High School in Seattle, one year at Edmonds Community College, two years at Washington State University, and twenty-five years at Moscow High School. A six week stint teaching summer school in Seattle’s inner city provided a rewarding learning experience I will never forget.
While teaching in Idaho, I held a number of leadership positions in the Moscow Education Association and Idaho Education Association. These gave me the opportunity to gain important skills, and opened the door to the political arena. Following my work with the education associations, I chaired the Latah County Democrats for a number of years.
My family has always been supportive and I love each one deeply. My husband John is a professor of electrical engineering at Washington State University. Each of our three children graduated from Washington State University. Shawn majored in environmental science and currently works at STRATA in Moscow. Stacy is an education media specialist. She is currently working towards a doctorate at UCLA Shelley is a family medicine physician with an emphasis in sports medicine. She lives in Boise. Shawn’s wife, Tiffany teaches at Lena Whitmore Elementary School and granddaughter Sadie will be a seventh grade student at Moscow Junior High School.
She also has adequate time to mount her challenge: 14 months to build a one-on-one following, knocking on doors and holding town halls all around Idaho’s 1st Congressional District.
Trillhasse points out other strenghts including:
Tactics – If her interview with the Tribune’s William L. Spence was any indication, Ringo intends to make Labrador the poster child for the Tea Party intransigence that has paralyzed the government. Ringo can call attention to Labrador’s votes against highway funding, the farm bill, Secure Rural Schools and Payment in Lieu of Taxes. Labrador supports shutting down the government to block Obamacare, so if that shutdown happens, he now owns it. ... She’ll remind the folks at home Labrador has become a creature of Washington, D.C., who seems to care more about keeping the ultraconservative Club for Growth and “Meet the Press” host David Gregory happy than promoting the interest of his own constituents.
Last year, Labrador benefitted from a Democratic incumbent president, at the top of the ticket, who Idaho's majority voters hate with a passion. He also had the simple "R" after his name and the resulting traction to soundly to defeat badly underfunded newcomer Jimmy Farris.
But the numbers tell an additional story. Labrador’s margin against Farris was only 63 percent. That is lower than Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s 64.5 percent statewide. It is also behind Simpson’s 65 percent in the 2nd Congressional District. During his first run for Congress, years ago when he beat Minnick, Labrador carried just 51 percent. That was in a nationalized election with national GOP fervor at his feet.
There are other signs that Labrador may not be completely safe, even in this redder-than-red district. It is well known that he does not like being in Washington, DC, and he comes home to Idaho every weekend. The firebrand, against-the-grain lawmaker has a recent history of erratic outbursts, most notably against columnist Chris Carlson.
And there is, of course, a widely held perception he is working to oust Simpson in next spring’s GOP primary election:
House Speaker John Boehner drew applause from a crowd of 430 backing 2nd District Congressman Mike Simpson with a clear misstatement: He said Simpson's 1st District colleague and fellow Republican was backing Simpson in his primary race.
"I want to thank Raul Labrador for being here today and being supportive of his colleague in his re-election bid," Boehner said Monday at a Boise event that raised more than $95,000 for Simpson's campaign for a ninth term.
Columnist Dan Popkey called Boehner's statements "satire."
My prank theory is bolstered by the fact that Boehner spoke in the same room where Simpson ripped Labrador as a member of a rebel group that tried to oust Boehner in January. Labrador himself received one vote for speaker and twice refused to vote for Boehner when his name was called by the House clerk. ... Simpson lashed out during an interview before the start of a Jan. 12 City Club of Boise forum, calling the conspirators "irresponsible" and arguing that they had "substantially lost credibility" and misunderstood the majority party's responsibility to govern.
The congressman's topsy-turvy
flirtation with challenging Gov. C.L. (Butch) Otter, --and then refusing to endorse the governor -- can't be helping, either. And finally, his efforts to defeat former Idaho GOP Chairman Kirk Sullivan still linger in the back of many bitter mainstream Idaho GOP souls.
Politics makes strange bedfellows, or so the saying goes. Look for a Democratic base, mobilized, focused, and energized, to come out in force for Ringo. This wave will combine with a well of subtle-yet-powerful support (protest votes, favors, tips, and research) for her from the ID-GOP's moderate base.