This is what happens when people have one-party rule for too long. Since 1994, Idaho hasn't had a prominent statewide elected official, no governors, lieutenant governors, attorney generals, secretaries of state, superintendants of public instruction, nada. Among the 70 current House members, there are 19 Democrats (after a gain of six Dems in 2006). In a Senate of 35, there are seven Democrats.
What's more, a study last year found that Idaho's legislature is the oldest in the nation. No, not the one that has been around the longest, the one that has the most elderly membership. There are no term limits in Idaho's legislature, and when you get a seat, it pretty much ends up being for life unless you have grander ambitions. It's a heavily rural and male dominated group, and one that is increasingly out of touch. Idaho has had the nation's fourth fastest growth rate for the past three years, and that growth is in urban areas.
Idaho is quickly outgrowing its leadership and is clamoring for change. How do I know? 21,224 Idahoans turned out to caucus in last night's Dems only event. In 2004, 4,920 caucused. This is possibly the first time in Idaho history that there was a Democratic caucus in every one of Idaho's 44 counties. Idaho history maven, Jim Weatherby, doesn't remember it ever happening before, so that's enough for me.
One caucus-goer summed up the general mood:
"I want to get as far away from Bush as you can get," said David Walgren, a Boise Democrat. "Obama is as far away from Bush as you can get."
Living in as deeply Republican-entrenched state as Idaho is, it's likely not just Democrats who feel that way. Even some Republicans are probably coming around to the idea that their representation leaves a lot to be desired. Particularly when the state legislature refuses to keep up with the tremendous changes that Idaho's growth is demanding. For these voters, Barack Obama is about as far away the Republicans as they can imagine. It also makes you wonder if people are listening to the message Obama is sending. Walgren doesn't hear "we can work together," he just doesn't want any more Republicans.
This brings me to an important question, one raised by Sharon Fisher at New West:
In a state where some people say they’re afraid to put a Democratic bumper sticker on their cars, 6,500 people in Ada County alone were shouting "We are Democrats!"
But this was in a room full of other shouting people. A safe place. How to get them to shout it outside the room as well?
That’s the question that state and county Democratic organizations should be grappling with now. There is no doubt that Obama brought in many new people, and that many of the Idahoans for Obama organizers were not traditional Idaho Democrats. Can the existing party organization leverage these new resources and mobilize these new people to support state and district-level Democrats as well?
In what might be an ominous clue, in Ada County many of the new Obama supporters left after the first ballot, and many more left after the second, leaving just a few people around to be chosen as Obama delegates for the state convention.
That's really the critical question for this state. Bush is likelier to resign in shame before his term is up than Obama would would be to win Idaho in a general election, were he the nominee. Idaho hasn't voted for a Democratic president since Johnson in 1964 (it went for Nixon in 1960). But what the people who turned out to caucus for him last night could do if they were mobilized to work statewide could elect Larry LaRocco to the Senate. It could give Idaho's 1st congressional district back to the Democrats. (Idaho, like many mountain west states, is a state of ticket-splitters, much more like to vote Dem down ticket than at the top.)
Here's where we come in. A few weeks ago we announced that Markos would be keynoting the Idaho State Dems' Frank Church Banquet and that the Daily Kos community would be "official sponsors" of the banquet. To do our part, we're helping out a very cash strapped state party structure. All the money we raise will go toward their 2008 training budget so their grassroots activists can receive one-on-one assistance from our field directors. They can do more outreach to more activists and capture some of those people who caucused last night with our help.
The other nice perk in this is that we'll be sponsoring our fellow bloggers--the money we provide will offset the ticket costs for Idaho's bloggers, allowing them to attend the banquet (and definitely spice this party up). We can give a boost to some of the progressive bloggers who have been working their butts off for, thus far, very little reward in one of the toughest states in the country. And we might also just help them take back part of Idaho in '08.
(Some great Idaho caucus blogging has been done by a team of U of Washington journalism students I had the pleasure of meeting. They went to Idaho yesterday to caucus watch, and have been reporting at Seattle Politicore.)