Stallings to be new Idaho Dem Chair

Ridenbaugh Press: "The last time an Idaho political party selected a successful and statewide-known political figure as party chair, the event marked a renaissance.
That was in early 1991, a moment when the Idaho Republican Party was in a funk. The election of 1990 was the worst for that party in three decades, the climax of three elections that each marked general reversals for Republicans and especially conservatives. Dispirited, fractious, the Republicans turned to a figure respected by just about everybody: former Lieutenant Governor (and long-time state Senator) Phil Batt.
The contours of Idaho politics ever since have been shaped in significant part by what happened next. Batt used his stature to unite the party, and his political wits to pull together a unifying message and definition, and more - a sense of priorities, redefining the party in the minds of many people through a series of shrewd decisions about what to talk about, and what to leave on the back burner. Batt later became governor, a beneficiary of hisown party strategy, but his biggest impact on his state may have been his short but extremely influential tenure as party chair - possibly the most influential chair of a major Idaho political party ever.
This week comes news that Democratic Party Chair Carolyn Boyce plans to step down when the party's executive committee meets. And word that the top interested candidate to replace her may be Richard Stallings. And that raises some thoughts.
Like Batt, Stallings is a politician with a long track record.
He goes back to the mid-70s working on Democratic campaigns, ran twice for the legislature (losing in a Rexburg-based district, no disgrace for a Democrat), running for Congress in 1982 and losing - then, in 1984, knocking off veteran Republican George Hansen and winning by growing landslides in his next three re-election contests. Lost two race aft"