Vito Barbieri claims Clark's old post

COEUR d'ALENE - The race to replace Rep. Jim Clark went to Vito Barbieri Tuesday night.

The Republican from Coeur d'Alene easily outdistanced three opponents in the primary election in the bid for the two-year, District 3A seat.

Barbieri, an attorney, received 2,047 votes, 39.4 percent, while Duane Rasmussen received 1,298 votes, 25 percent, Jeri DeLange got 1,057 votes, 20.3 percent, and Fred Meckel received 794 votes, 15.2 percent.

Barbieri, who was at Steve Vick's home early Tuesday before heading to Nate's Pizza in Post Falls to watch results come in, was feeling better as the night went on. He said he believed a strong "team effort" was the difference.

"I had a lot of people helping me and we worked pretty hard," he said.

Barbieri, 58, ran on a ticket of conservative principles and vowed to protect state rights, personal property rights and work to lower taxes.

His focus on government transparency was a message that hit home with voters, too, he said.

"We're trying to get the rest of the bureaucracies to get their expenses online so we can track how the money is being spent," he said.

Since there is no Democrat seeking the post, it means Barbieri will be unopposed in November's general election unless someone launches a write-in campaign.

He'll replace Clark, a seven-term Republican from Hayden Lake who announced his retirement early this year.

Duane Rasmussen, an attorney, thanked his supporters for helping him collect 25 percent of the vote.

"I hope Barbieri does a good job for us," he said.

Rasmussen said Barbieri ran a good campaign.

"He maybe just outworked me," he said.

Barbieri said despite winning by a large margin, he was nervous about the outcome.

"You never can tell if what you're doing is going to pay off," he said.

It paid off Tuesday.

"It's increasingly feeling better," he said.