Alert Daily Kos readers already know about Bill Sali, the candidate in Idaho's 1st Congressional District whom observers have called the
Wingnut of the Year. The thing is, here in Idaho, GOP extremists can get away with a lot before people start paying attention. (See Symms, Steve, and Chenoweth, Helen.)
But can Bill Sali get away with being tied to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff? And will the netroots help be sure that he doesn't?
Here's the situation: In this morning's
Idaho Statesman, there's an
op-ed by Allen Gorin, who castigates the Statesman's political reporter Dan Popkey for waging an "ongoing literary jihad" against Sali. Mind you, Popkey's crimes are that he's telling the truth about what a marginalized candidate Sali is, and how Republicans are abandoning him in droves. But Gorin is a smooth writer, able to make even Sali sound reasonable and centrist as he nitpicks his way through Popkey's work.
But Gorin inadvertently blew it when he signed his op-ed with a mention of how he is "the Idaho representative of Toward Tradition, a national coalition of Jews and Christians." Gorin probably figures very few readers in Idaho know anything about Toward Tradition. But a simple Google of the group turns up its ties to Abramoff, who sat on its board from the early 1990s through 2004 (including several terms as president) and who emeshed the group in his Indian casino lobbying scandal. It's surprising Gorin would bring up his connection to the group and thus drag his friend Bill Sali into it.
Of course, Sali's shady support doesn't stop there. He received most of his primary money from the Club for Growth - and there again, few Idahoans know anything at all about the CFG's agenda of dismantling government on every level, never mind its run-ins with the FEC. But they probably wouldn't appreciate this quote from Club for Growth founder Stephen Moore (reported on People for the American Way's website):
I can say this because I'm not an elected official: the most selfish group in America today is senior citizens. Their demands on Washington are: 'Give us more and more and more.' They have become the new welfare state, and given the size and political clout of this constituency, it's very dangerous. One of the biggest myths in politics today is this idea that grandparents care about their grandkids. What they really care about is that that Social Security check and those Medicare payments are made on a timely basis.
Heh. I'd like to see a few Idaho senior citizens ask Sali about that when he's making the rounds this summer and fall.
National pundits - and even a few local ones, Popkey included - are still questioning whether the Democratic nominee in the ID-01, former Micron vice president Larry Grant, can win. Yes, it's 2006. Yes, Democrats are winning races in neighboring states including Montana and Wyoming. But this is Idaho, reddest of the red states, where Bush still has a 50-something approval rating. While the netroots fawns (and rightly so) over Montana's Jon Tester and Brian Schweitzer, many in the Kos community and beyond seem to be writing off Idaho, even with a GOP candidate as extreme as Sali and even with a Democratic moderate as accomplished as Larry Grant.
This is a mistake.
Larry Grant can win. Mainstream Idaho Republicans are flocking to his side, realizing what an embarrassment Bill Sali would be, to Idaho and to the nation. Bill Sali only took 26% of the vote in a six-way GOP primary. His supporters are limited to fundamentalists and free-market zealots. But because the Club for Growth and religious radicals will continue to pour money into Sali's campaign, Larry Grant must have national resources, support, and buzz to counter what is sure to be a nasty campaign on the part of Sali's prime backers.
Progressive candidates in true-blue California and Connecticut don't need any more netroots attention - not for now, at least. Netroots, it's time to broaden our perspective and look for the true dark horses that can win in November. Larry Grant is an outstanding candidate who can help Democrats reclaim the Congress - but if only his name beccomes as well known as Jon Tester, Ned Lamont, and Jerry McNerney. As the June 30 FEC deadline nears, we've been asking Idaho ex-pats to Send Money Home to help Larry win. We extend that invitation to all. No progressive American should want to see Bill Sali elected to Congress. No one, perhaps, except Stephen Colbert who would have some great new fodder for Better Know a District.
Disclaimer: I do paid work for Larry Grant, as chief blogger on his campaign blog.