In the wake of the MS-01 win last night, can there be any doubt that Howard Dean has remade the Democratic Party with his 50-state strategy? Believe me, as an Idahoan, I can say it's meant a world of difference to have a party chairman who actually cares about each state and territory. And today, Dr. Dean announced the 50-state blog strategy of one blog representing each of our states and territories, chosen from a pool of 400 applicants. Dean said:

"The Internet has played a critical role in connecting Americans to elected officials and candidates seeking office.  The DemConvention State Blogger Corps will continue to foster this dialogue - in all 50 of our states and our territories too - as we head towards this year's historic election and elect a Democrat to the White House."

Most of the blogs won't be new to Kossacks. See the list below the flip. Congratulations to all the selected blogs!

One week ago, 2006 netroots hero Larry Grant stunned his supporters by withdrawing from his primary battle against Walt Minnick. As mcjoan wrote two days later, it was a classy decision by a man who has always put the good of Idaho ahead of personal ambition.

And today, Grant's selflessness is paying off for Idaho's 1st Congressional District, much earlier than expected. In 2006, it took us until October to get the ID-01 on the DCCC's Red to Blue list. In 2008, it happened today - 200 days before the election, and definitely early enough to make a real difference as we try to keep Rep. Bill Sali to a single term.

As D-trip chief Chris Van Hollen said in announcing the decision to make Minnick the 14th Red to Blue candidate this cycle:

Walt Minnick's Idaho values, experience as a business and community leader and commitment to bringing people together to solve problems make him an independent, effective voice for change for Idaho's families. The Red to Blue Program will give Walt the financial and structural edge to be even more competitive.

It's a big weekend here in Idaho. Markos is coming to keynote our annual Frank Church Banquet (thank you, Kossacks, for helping mark this event) and we have a full weekend of party-building activities and camaraderie.

This is great stuff, and now it's also a week when one of the state's top Republican bloggers publicly declared that his party is not representing the middle class. Reacting to Gov. Butch Otter's plan this week to increase vehicle registration fees, Adam Graham wrote yesterday:

Otter’s problem is that Idaho’s middle class is forgotten to him. I think Butch Otter cares about the rich, I think he also cares about the poor as evidenced by his grocery tax credit plan to bring the grocery tax credit to the extremely poor, and he cares about the rich and big business. But the middle class? Not so much. It’s the poor, the rich, and then special interests. Middle class not even on the list.

It's a stark admission. Graham goes on (below the flip) ...

That's the phrase slapped across the letter that the Senate Ethics Committee delivered yesterday to Larry Craig.

In delivering its judgment that Craig's actions have "reflected discreditably on the Senate," the panel of three Democrats and three Republicans noted Craig's "accurate, intelligent, and voluntary guilty plea" and his attempts to withdraw it; his decision to give the arresting officer his Senate business card ("What do you think of that?"); and his use of more than $213,000 in campaign funds to pay legal fees and defend his reputation.

More below the flip ...

There's a classic saying among Democrats. I know I've seen it on a Kossack sig line (sorry I can't remember whose!) and it would make a great - albeit long - bumper sticker:

If you want the country to move forward, put it in "D." If you want to go backward, put it in "R."

But there's another option on our national stick shift, and it's one that too many Democrats still seem eager to take on this eve of our first de facto national primary:

If you want to leave the car in neutral, put it in "N." Unfortunately, that's what a vote for Hillary Clinton means on the eve of this most important day of the 2008 presidential primary season.

More below the flip ...

This is a short diary, but I hope it will prove telling about the sort of man Barack Obama is, and the sort of president he'd be.

Barack Obama was scheduled to have a rally in Salt Lake City on Saturday morning - but Gordon Hinckley, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints died earlier this week. His funeral is set for Saturday.

Rather than hold the rally, Obama adjusted his plans and scheduled an event in Boise, Idaho, instead.

More below the flip ...

This diary was inspired by the red-hot recommended one by ToqueDeville, Hey Edwards Supporters, It's Time to Jump On the Obama Train

I'm in Boise, perhaps the reddest of the red states. We caucus February 5, so we will - for the first time - have some small say in determining the nominee.

Obama is on fire here. People have been organized for him since last March, when 100 people came to a kickoff. He's had a donated office and paid staff here since early fall. His events draw tons of people, and his volunteers have a presence in all the right places: sporting events, Democratic Party events, on campus, and at the cool bars.

Edwards? I know he has supporters, but they have done nothing to organize.

Clinton? Even less.

More below the flip ...

Today, we are holding the first monthly DemocracySpace water cooler, a live blog starting at 1 p.m. Eastern. Our featured guest is Jim Noucas of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, who will talk about how study circles have been used to create a more inclusive and responsive local government in his community.

DemocracySpace, which launched last month, is a project of the nonpartisan Study Circles Resource Center, soon to be renamed Everyday Democracy. SCRC has helped hundreds of communities nationwide develop an ability to organize large-scale and diverse participation in dialogue structured to support and strengthen measurable community change on a variety of issues including racism, immigration, education, and urban planning.

(More on Jim below the flip ...)

Greetings and salutations, Idaho Kossacks. Be forewarned: There's no Larry Craig news here!

First of all, I'd like to let everyone know that I can no longer update my April 2007 diary, Bill Sali: Even Worse Than We Expected. (Is there a statute of limitation for diaries, past which they can no longer be updated, or even accept comments? I looked in the dKos FAQ but couldn't find that answer.)

In lieu of that, your best bet to keep on top of Bill Sali's voting record is the estimable MountainGoat Report, not yet a year old but perhaps the best blog in Idaho these days. MG has been dogged about posting Sali's votes. This will take you right to the latest Sali posts:

http://mountaingoatreport.typepad.co...

More below the flip ....

I've been scarce around these parts due to a new nonpartisan job I started September 4. But what the hell: I am off the clock, and there's some big news out of Idaho that begs to be shared - and no, I'm not talking about Larry "Wide Stance" Craig's court date in Minnesota tomorrow.

From Larry LaRocco's website:

General Wesley Clark, 2004 Presidential candidate, today endorsed former Congressman and fellow Army veteran, Larry LaRocco, for the U.S. Senate in Idaho.

“Larry is a seasoned, experienced leader who will bring the change we need to the U.S. Senate,” said Clark. “He served with distinction, not only in our military but also in Congress, and he can win this race. It is wide open.”

More below the flip ...

I live in Boise, about a mile from the Depot where Larry Craig just announced he will be resigning his U.S. Senate seat effective September 30. Knowing the circus was in town, I walked there from my house.

It's been a wild and surreal week in Boise. As the most remote metropolitan area in the Lower 48, we're simply not used to much media coverage, nor are we accustomed - even with Bill Sali on board - to having our leaders held up as international laughingstocks. Yesterday, every time I turned on CNN, there was Wolf Blitzer with a shot of the Boise skyline behind him. More ominously, there was that map of the Northwest, with a blinking red dot pulsing as if we were about to be struck by an incoming missile.

Well, we've been hit indeed, and it's by the full force of the wrath of the Republican Party. As Boise State University professor Jim Weatherby is quoted in today's Idaho Statesman, "I can't think of anything comparable in my years of watching Idaho politics, both in how quickly he fell and in the role, apparently, of national party leadership in just cutting him off."

(More on the flip ...)

Just a note to people living in and around York, Pennsylvania:

Would you like an opportunity to get together with people from different faiths to talk about issues facing the community? Representatives of Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Bahai, Buddhist, and Unitarian traditions, as well as the local chapter of the NAACP, are planning interfaith dialogues this fall.

The dialogues will use the Study Circles method of bring diverse people together to talk for several weeks, then form action plans to address pressing issues.

More below the fold ...

It's been a July full of fireworks in Idaho politics. Last week, Larry Grant announced his campaign for another run for the Idaho-01 seat now held by Bill Sali. Meanwhile, Larry LaRocco turned a few heads by raising almost $80K in less than three months of campaigning since his Senate announcement in mid-April - a strong showing by Idaho standards.

The Senate race looks like the marquee event in Idaho for 2008. All eyes - all summer long - will be on Larry Craig to see whether he will retire and, if so, who will file on the GOP seat. But some Republicans don't want to wait for Craig's announcement, which he's promised to make by "late summer." Lt. Gov. Jim Risch has been floating rumors for months that he'd like to run if Craig declines, and last week maverick elk rancher Rex Rammell announced that he's in no matter what.

As always, Democrats' challenge in GOP-heavy Idaho is to divert enough attention from the Republicans to gain media attention. Our two favorite Larrys - Grant and LaRocco - have done just that in recent weeks.

about building a 60-seat+ majority in the United State Senate?

Friends, we are a day away from the 2nd quarter fundraising deadline. Our candidates have about 40 hours left to show the depth and breadth of their support.

Last week, when Joe Lieberman hosted a $3K-a-plate fundraiser for Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the blogosphere erupted in its usual show of Joe Loathing. MoveOn claimed to raise $355K in 24 hours for Collins challenger Tom Allen and fellow Rep. Patrick Murphy of Pennsylvania. Markos front-paged the effort twice within 24 hours (here and here), and Miss Laura brought it up again yesterday.

Meanwhile, another Senate candidate - former U.S. Rep. Larry LaRocco of Idaho - stopped by Kos to do his second diary this month on Wednesday. No one noted it on the front page. It didn't make the recommended list. It basically sunk without a trace

A few weeks ago, Larry LaRocco - the only announced candidate in the 2008 U.S. Senate race in Idaho, wrote his first diary at Daily Kos. In it, the Vietnam-era U.S. Army veteran and former Congressman told how he came to adopt "Do Right, Risk Consequences" as his guiding vision in public service. If you missed the diary, you can read it here.

LaRocco will be back here in the Kos diaries in two hours, at 2 p.m. Eastern, 1 p.m. Central, noon Mountain, and 11 a.m. Pacific. Today, he'll write about his new Working for Senate campaign and how he is taking jobs all across Idaho to work alongside Idaho voters and listen and learn about their lives. Two weeks ago, he worked as a garbageman in Orofino, Idaho. Friday, he'll be working at a nursing home in Pocatello.

Disgraced Attorney General Alberto Gonzales traveled to Boise today, apparently believing that Idaho was one last place where he could show his face in public. But after more than 100 people showed up at an outdoor press conference to protest Gonzales' appearance, the AG's handlers delayed the event an hour and moved it to an indoor venue where only credentialed press could attend.

Gonzo was in Boise to meet with the regional anti-gang task force and tour Fort Boise Community Center, which has many programs to give local youth alternatives to gang life. (Ironic, isn't it? The attorney general is OK with torture, politically motivated firings, domestic spying, and lying before Congress, but gangs? No way!) Afterward, he was supposed to meet the Boise media outside for a press conference.

More below the fold (don't miss the photo of mcmom and old timer!)

Many of you know me as someone who helps Idaho candidates reach out to the netroots. I was the campaign blogger last year for Larry Grant, and I'm currently helping Larry LaRoccolaunch his 2008 U.S. Senate bid.

I love electoral politics, but I am even more passionate about small-d democracy. For the past five years, I have been working with the Study Circles Resource Center, which helps communities develop their own ability to solve problems by exploring ways for all kinds of people to think, talk, and work together to create change. I write stories from these communities to help others see what's possible.

I need your help ... more below the flip ...

Larry LaRocco, the only declared candidate in the 2008 race for U.S. Senate in Idaho, will be blogging live here in the diaries at Daily Kos at 2 p.m. Eastern/1 p.m. Central/noon Mountain/11 a.m. Pacific today.  It'll be his first foray onto Kos, and I believe he may be the first declared 08 Senate challenger to visit. (I know Ron Sparks has been by, but he hasn't yet announced, right?)

LaRocco doesn't yet know who he'll be facing next year. Larry Craig, the incumbent, says he'll announce later this year whether he's going to seek another term. Another Republican, Robert Vasquez, briefly entered the race, but he's already dropped out.

Former U.S. Rep. LaRocco will talk with Kossacks today about Congress' lack of accountability on the Iraq War, about his political philosophy, and about - well, whatever YOU want to ask him. And if you like what you see, we have an account up at Act Blue. The idea is to try and outraise Larry Craig if at all possible this quarter, and to bring in a lot of small donations to counter Craig's fat-cat contributors.