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<div>keely wrote:<br> </div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid"> but both exhibit a<br>"conservatism" that the GOP of a half-century ago would hardly recognize.
<br>And that's a pity, because with their election, I fear that Idaho is on its<br>way to becoming a state that many of us won't recognize as part of the 21st<br>century or the America our parents loved and fought for. </blockquote>
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<div>On it's way? Isn't it already a state that "many of us won't recognize..."?</div>
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<div>Former Idaho Governor Cecil Andrus or former US Senator Frank Church wouldn't stand a chance of election now with their stands on many issues, given Idaho's current political climate...</div>
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<div><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_D._Andrus">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_D._Andrus</a></div>
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<div>In <a title="1990" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990">1990</a> Andrus gained national notoriety when he vetoed a strict anti-<a title="Abortion" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion">abortion</a> bill passed by the
<a title="Idaho Legislature" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idaho_Legislature">Idaho Legislature</a>. Later that year Andrus decisively defeated conservative Republican state senator <a title="Roger Fairchild" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Fairchild">
Roger Fairchild</a> for reelection to a fourth term as governor, winning in every county except <a title="Lemhi County, Idaho" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemhi_County%2C_Idaho">Lemhi</a>. </div>
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<div><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Church">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Church</a></div>
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<div>Church is remembered for his voting record as a strong liberal and environmental legislator, and he played a major role in the creation of the nation's system of protected wilderness areas in the 1960s. In 1964, Church was the floor sponsor of the National
<a title="Wilderness Act" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilderness_Act">Wilderness Act</a>. In 1968, he sponsored the <a title="Wild and Scenic Rivers Act" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_and_Scenic_Rivers_Act">
Wild and Scenic Rivers Act</a> and gained passage of a ten year moratorium on federal plans to transfer water from the <a title="Pacific Northwest" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Northwest">Pacific Northwest</a>
to <a title="California" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California">California</a>. Working with other <a title="Member of Congress" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_of_Congress">members of Congress</a> from northwestern states, Church helped establish the
<a title="Hells Canyon" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hells_Canyon">Hells Canyon</a> National Recreation Area along the Oregon-Idaho border, which protected the gorge from dam building. He was also the primary proponent in the establishment of the
<a title="Sawtooth Wilderness" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sawtooth_Wilderness">Sawtooth Wilderness</a> & <a title="Sawtooth National Recreation Area" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sawtooth_National_Recreation_Area">
National Recreation Area</a> in central Idaho in 1972.
<p>This was all the more remarkable considering that he represented one of the most conservative states in the nation.</p></div>
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<div>Ted Moffett</div>
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