What will Idaho GOPers do?

Those of us with an interest in Latino political empowerment just developed a reason to care about the state of Idaho.

That state had its primary elections this week, and in one congressional district the ex-Marine and CIA operative who was the favorite of the local Republican Party establishment actually managed to lose to his opponent – a state legislator who happens to be of Puerto Rican ethnicity.

SO IN THAT northwestern state, we’re going to get the sight of a Latino taking on an incumbent member of Congress – Rep. Walt Minnick, D-Idaho. Minnick is a first-term member of the House of Representatives who is considered vulnerable politically because his state leans toward the Republican Party.

Local GOP types want to believe that Minnick’s election was merely a fluke caused by what they want to view as that aberation of 2008 otherwise known as the election of Barack Obama as U.S. president. They were counting on Ward to present what they consider an “all-American” image to knock Minnick out come November and “restore” Idaho to its rightful place with the Party of Reagan.

Except that Ward couldn’t even get past Raul Labrador, who now gets to take on Minnick come the Nov. 2 general elections.

Now I’m not an Idaho resident. I don’t know anyone who lives there. I don’t know who I’d vote for if I did live there.

BUT IT IS going to be intriguing watching the modern-day incarnation of the Republican Party (the one that wants to think Arizona is doing them proud with all of their recent actions – including their most recent consideration of a bill that would strip U.S. citizenship from people born in this country if their parents were not citizens at the time of their birth) squirm as they try to figure out what they did so wrong that they had to be the party with the Latino nominee.

Even though Labrador won the nomination, I don’t see it as any sign that the Idaho version of the GOP has suddenly become enlightened in the area of ethnic relations.

The Idaho Statesman newspaper reported signs that Ward managed to offend the sensibilities of some Republican partisans with his ties to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (who last week appeared in Boise on his behalf and also gave his campaign other tokens of support). There also was some concern that Ward has not yet given up his family’s house in Virginia (he was renting a home for his family in Idaho).

That caused enough people to vote against Ward, rather than for Labrador – who himself engages in the anti-Obama rhetoric favored by segments of the Republican Party faithful. “The answer to Obamaism is liberty,” was Labrador’s comment early Wednesday to his campaign faithful who celebrated his electoral victory.

NOW WHILE SOME people like to view these congressional campaigns purely within a local context, the fact is that they all have to be fit within the national picture. Those political observers who are determined to believe that the Republican Party has a significant chance to take a majority of the Hosue of Representatives (if not the entire Congress) were counting on the concept of an ex-Marine being willing to appeal to the version of patriotism espoused by the social conservatives, and were figuring that Minnick was vulnerable to defeat because of that image.

But the Washington Post used its website to report Wednesday that such a view is no longer prevailing. It seems that the national Republican Party types who decide whether or not to pump in national cash and support to bolster a local candidate’s chances are skeptical that Labrador is worth the same type of support they were willing to give to Ward.

When combined with the fact that Minnick has made a point of voting against the Democratic Party leadership’s stances (he was a “no” on health care reform) on many issues so that the GOP cannot use those votes against him in this year’s general election, it’s not like the Republican Party has enough of a commitment to Latino political empowerment to want to put Labrador in office.

This may have just become yet another boring local race.

THERE ARE THOSE people who say that Minnick’s chances of re-election gained a significant jolt this week because the GOP did not pick the “right” nominee. Which is why I will be watching the state this year. How subtle will the Republican partisans be in expressing their displeasure with their candidate?

Will they be willing to look seriously at Labrador and give him a chance? Or are they going to write this year off as a loss?

I’d like to think it will be the former. Because I do believe that the growing Latino population of this country is better off if we have signficant membership within both political parties. It would be nice to see our perspective reflected in the policies of both.

Because much of the problem we have these days is that the Republican Party is being tilted too far to the right by segments of our society who want to use the party to push for policies meant to minimize (if not erase outright) our growing numbers.

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