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<div><font color="#000000">For more info on Republicans for Grant:
http://www.republicansforgrant.com/</font></div>
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<div><font color="#000000">Mark</font></div>
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<div><font color="#000000">**********</font></div>
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<div><font color="#000000">Popkey: Republicans for Grant could pose
problem for Sali</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000"><br></font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">Dan Popkey</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000">The Idaho Statesman | Edition Date:
08-16-2006</font><br>
</div>
<div><font color="#000000">No matter how much cash Vice President
Cheney raises for Bill Sali's congressional campaign this afternoon,
it's a better day for Democrat Larry Grant.<br>
<br>
That's because the long-term impact of Cheney's fly-by fundraiser will
pale compared to the announcement today of a Republicans for Grant
organization, giving license to Republicans to vote for a
Democrat.<br>
<br>
The group includes some top GOP names: Jim Nelson of Nelson
Construction, Micron co-founder and former GOP congressional candidate
Ward Parkinson and lawyer-lobbyist Allyn Dingel.<br>
<br>
Former Lt. Gov. David Leroy knows disloyalty's sting. In 1986,
Republicans for Andrus helped Cecil Andrus defeat Leroy in the race
for governor by 3,635 votes. Though Leroy never thought the defector
organization large, its very presence made a difference. "It acts
as a device to chip away at the base," Leroy said, "and it
makes some people less guilty about doing something that they're not
typically inclined to do."<br>
<br>
The erosion includes those outside the formal group. Longtime GOP
contributor Warren McCain, a retired Albertsons CEO, is not joining
but gave Grant $1,000. "I'm a Republican," McCain said,
"but I'm a Republican for Grant."<br>
<br>
Another important defection could come from GOP icon Phil Batt, former
governor, party chairman and legislator. Batt won't vote for Grant but
may withhold his vote for Sali because of Sali's vociferous right-wing
record. "When I was thinking about running for a second term, he
told the Wall Street Journal how worthless I was and how they were
trying to get somebody to run against me," Batt told me.<br>
<br>
Batt then furnished an Aug. 18, 1997, clip in which Sali said he
disagreed regularly with Batt and that Republicans "wish somebody
would run against him in the primary."<br>
<br>
Batt later decided not to run. He left a legacy including a smaller
state government, tougher environmental laws, moderation on abortion,
field toilets and workers' compensation for farmworkers and the
beginning of a conversation about sentencing reform.<br>
<br>
"I'm reserving judgment until I find out if he still thinks the
things I did as governor were wrong," Batt said.<br>
<br>
I tried to reach Sali by phone and e-mail. What I got was a written
comment from Campaign Manager Jesseca Sali: "The real story is
that Idahoans overwhelmingly embrace the limited government, low taxes
and traditional family values that Rep. Bill Sali has a long record of
supporting. Voters see Bill as an honorable, honest and decent family
man who has dedicated his time in public service to helping Idahoans.
For these reasons and more, Republicans, Democrats and independents
are supporting Bill's campaign in greater and greater
numbers."<br>
<br>
But Sali's incivility in his 16 years as a legislator is driving
Republicans away. Nelson, the leading organizer of Republican for
Grant, called upon the words of the GOP speaker of the Idaho House.
"Bruce Newcomb had it right," said Nelson. "He's an
idiot's idiot."<br>
<br>
In April, Sali refused to honor Newcomb's request to refrain from
raising the non-germane and false claim of a link between abortion and
breast cancer in debate. "That idiot is just an idiot," said
Newcomb, who adjourned the House for the weekend as a result of Sali's
bad manners.<br>
<br>
U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, who represents Idaho's 2nd District and
preceded Newcomb as speaker of the Idaho House, once threatened to
toss Sali from the third floor of the Capitol for spreading what
Simpson called lies. But he is trying valiantly to enforce party
loyalty and putting control of the U.S. House first.<br>
<br>
"You've heard some talk about 'Republicans for Grant,'"
Simpson said at the GOP convention in June. "There is no such
thing as a Republican for Grant. They are Democrats!"<br>
<br>
Nelson and his fellow travelers belie that claim. In Simpson's first
race in 1998, Nelson held a Simpson fundraiser. "I had a
get-together for 10 people at $1,000 apiece," Nelson said.
"And you know, he didn't call me a Democrat
then."</font></div>
<div><font color="#000000"><br>
Pressed about Nelson's GOP credentials, Nikki Watts, Simpson's
spokeswoman, said her boss still considers Nelson a good Republican.
"Jim Nelson is a strong supporter and a friend. Congressman
Simpson respects Jim's views, but he believes we must maintain the
majority in the U.S. House."<br>
<br>
"That's putting politics over principle," Nelson said.
"That's totally against everything our country was founded
on."<br>
<br>
Business people like Nelson, Parkinson, Dingel and McCain trust Grant
as a problem solver. They remember that he was Micron's first general
counsel, who won the nation's first anti-dumping petition against
Japanese chip makers, saving Micron. They distrust Sali because he
rejects centrist solutions. "Politics are so polarized, nothing
is getting done," Nelson said. "Moderate Republicans and
moderate Democrats could control the process. Larry's that kind of
guy. Sali's not."<br>
<br>
This campaign will be won in the middle. Grant's appeal to Republican
moderates got a boost today, but he'll need thousands more on Nov.
7.</font></div>
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