Idaho has its say

Stark differences facing Republicans, Democrats as they go to the polls Tuesday

When voters flock to polling stations around Kootenai County Tuesday to mark their choices for who should represent Idaho at the national conventions later this year, one party will almost certainly select a wildly popular incumbent, while another party will take a deep breath after a free-for-all that has narrowed to two front-runners.

While a March 3 Gallup poll puts President Donald Trump’s job approval rating at 47 percent nationwide, his 92-percent popularity among Republicans has almost never been higher since taking office.

According to their local leader, not having to worry about any convention drama gives Republicans in North Idaho an opportunity to focus and organize over the issues come November, rather than debate over the personalities of the moment.

“Healthcare and the economy will be the biggest issues,” Kootenai County Republican Central Committee chair Brent Regan said. “Republicans need to articulate the advantages of our strong economy and how free markets are essential to the prosperity of everyone. All the problems we face get easier to solve with a strong economy.”

He added that our strong economy will only go so far with undecideds and younger voters if Republicans aren’t able to frame that strength into a long-term context.

“In reality,” Regan said, “America is greater now than anytime in the past. Democrats argue the opposite, but smart people know better.”

The Constitution Party has often brought an alternative to the Idaho voting menu, though the party has yet to break through on the national stage with the same weight and credibility as Republicans or Democrats.

Democrats’ credibility, accompanied by the liberal crucible of harmonious unity, has taken a backseat to the uncertainty of a wide-open candidate field only narrowed to Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden.

That late bloom has dragged Democrats’ polling numbers down slightly. A Gallup late-February poll says 58 percent of Democrats nationwide remain enthusiastic about voting in presidential elections, the highest since the run-up to the party’s election of President Barack Obama in 2012. But February’s numbers also trail Republicans’ enthusiasm by six points.

Laura Tenneson, chair of the Kootenai County Democratic Central Committee, said that uncertainty does not speak to a shaken party as much as it speaks to a country grappling with its own values.

“I think it says more about our nation that it does about the Democratic Party,” she said. “We live in a time when our society is more fractured than ever. We’re seeing the biggest wage inequality in 50 years. I think we’re seeing some of these overall national issues being reflected in the National Democratic Party.”

It’s a problem Regan said he could sympathize with.

“The Democrats are facing a similar problem the Republicans faced in 2012,” Regan recalled. “In both cases, various candidates were popular for a time and then faded until only the ‘establishment’ candidate remained. Democrats now find themselves in the unenviable position of having to pick from two finalists who both argue that America is a terrible place with a government corrupted by money and — despite being part of that government for 77 years between them — their solution is to make government vastly bigger.”

Tenneson contends that she and other local Democrats are excited about the choices Democrats face. She further argued that healthcare access, environmental protections and education will be three of the key issues that will drive voters both this week and in November, issues she believes will drive voters to the polls.

“We’ve been focusing on organizing events that will get people excited about getting to the polls,” she said, “such as the presidential campaign meet-and-greet we had this week and the rally we’re planning for Tuesday. I’m looking forward to the organized Get Out The Vote efforts that will happen leading up to the general election in November.”

Ultimately, both Regan and Tenneson said the Democrats’ conundrum represents the very definition of choice, though both disagree on what that choice means.

“While many find socialism an attractive concept, that luster fades quickly as the reality comes into focus,” Regan said. “When they realize a ‘free’ college degree means the advantage of having one evaporates, or that ‘free’ healthcare means long waits and rationing, or that getting ‘free’ things in general means a loss of their freedom to choose, it becomes clear that they don’t want to be socialists after all.

“Everybody wants choice,” he continued. ‘Choice in education, choice in healthcare, choice in goods and services, and the best way to ensure choice is to protect the free markets and not create crushing government monopolies.”

“We’re at a critical point,” Tenneson countered, “when the [Democratic] Party needs to come together and unite over one candidate. I really hope we can see that happen. I hope that, as a party, we accomplish the change that America so desperately needs.”