Ridenbaugh Press

Ridenbaugh Press: " Battlegrounds

As the nation has its battleground states in this presidential election, so Idaho has its battleground legislative districts.
Not many of them, to be sure. But there are a few.
They can be summarized fairly efficiently: Three where margins may change a bit in the Panhandle, and three where they may change with some significance in Boise.
Up north, the three districts are those based around Sandpoint, Coeur d'Alene and Lewiston. (There is a serious legislative race at Moscow, where Democratic Representative Shirley Ringo is being seriously challenged, and another at St. Maries where Republican Representative Dick Harwood may be ousted, but these are unlikely to have a major effect on local politics.)
In District 1, the race of note is for the House seat being vacated by Republican John Campbell. This district, Boundary and most of Bonner Counties, was dominated legislatively by Democrats until just about a decade ago; for the last few cycles, Democrats have been shut out here. But maybe not this time. Sandpoint Democrat Steve Elgar reputedly is running a solid contest, the best by a Democrat here in a decade or so, and is thought likely to win over Republican Eric Anderson. If he does, this area could turn more competitive; this one race could have that effect. If he loses, that may be an indicator that the area is turning its back on Democrats generally, and may be written off for a few years more.
Something similar is happening in the central Coeur d'Alene District 4, where in 2002 both House seats shifted from Republicans to Democrats. Those were narrow races, though, and hardly conclusive. There's a change that the Democrats (one an incumbent, George Sayler, and the other, Mike Gridley, the primary winner over a Democratic incumbent) might be swept aside in a presidential election year. If they su"