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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>In part, Roger wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>The Tea Party says that Obamacare will hurt the people that is claims to help the most. That some people will lose the insurance they now have and that insurance will cost them more. That it will greatly increase the over all cost and taxes. The left says that it is a great deal. That it will cover people not now covered now and will make insurance more affordable for more people at a reasonable cost. I doubt that things are quite as rosy as the left portrays. I hope that it is not as bad as its opponents think it will be.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>It’s too early to tell, of course, but here’s one Idaho SUCCESS story:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><a href="http://www.43sb.com/?q=signing_up_for_the_ACA">http://www.43sb.com/?q=signing_up_for_the_ACA</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><h1 style='mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt'><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:#777777'>Signing up on the Idaho Insurance Marketplace: Big Success!<o:p></o:p></span></h1><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><span class=submitted1><span style='font-size:7.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif"'>Submitted by Serephin on Sat, 10/12/2013 - 12:12pm.</span></span><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:13.2pt'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>>From a letter we received from Kevin Lish, an insurance agent from Pocatello who signed himself up for the Affordable Care Act on Your Health Idaho's website <a href="http://www.yourhealthidaho.org/">(http://www.yourhealthidaho.org/)</a>:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin-left:1.0in;line-height:13.2pt'><b><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>Affordable Care Act Experience</span></b><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin-left:1.0in;line-height:13.2pt'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>Saturday (10-12-2013) I was able to get on the Marketplace for Idaho. The website was easy to navigate and I was able to enroll in a new Gold Plan effective January 1, 2014. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin-left:1.0in;line-height:13.2pt'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>My current coverage, which I will cancel December 31, 2013, was $385.00 a month with a $5,000.00 deductible, 80/20 coinsurance with a out of pocket of $10,000.00 which was in addition to my $5,000.00 deductible.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin-left:1.0in;line-height:13.2pt'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>Being self-employed, I did qualify for a subsidy and my new Gold Plan has a $1,000.00 deductible, then 85/15 coinsurance with a new annual out of pocket of $6,350.00.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin-left:1.0in;line-height:13.2pt'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>The great part is, my new monthly premium beginning in January 2014 will be $164.08 a month for my new Affordable Care Act health insurance plan."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style='margin-left:.5in;line-height:13.2pt'><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black'>This, ladies and gentlemen, is why the GOP political machine is melting down like a Hershey bar in a microwave oven. People who, previously, could never get or keep insurance will now be able to do so, and it's become more affordable. <i>Booyah!</i><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Those savings and the better coverage are pretty darn significant in my book!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Saundra<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Moscow, ID<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.  If you want to be happy, practice compassion.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>~  The Dalai Lama<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> vision2020-bounces@moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces@moscow.com] <b>On Behalf Of </b>lfalen<br><b>Sent:</b> Saturday, October 12, 2013 11:18 AM<br><b>To:</b> vision2020; Nicholas Gier<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [Vision2020] Establishment GOP: Tea Party Must be Stopped. This one's for Roger<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Nick<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I am not taking either side. I think that if I agree with someone 80% of the time they are a Friend. I think that both Steve  King and Pete Sessions are good and I would not like to see them defeated. By the same token I would not like to see an active campaign to get rid of the Tea Party members. I would like to see an end to the infighting.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>I do not see why they should pass a blanket bill to fund everything. There are things that should not be funded. Smaller bills to fund certain things make more sense to me. This is what the House is trying to do. The Senate and Obama what all nothing. Just who is responsible for the continued shutdown. The Administration is closing things that do not need to be closed in an attempt to make it as painful as possible in the hopes that the Republicans will be blamed. Unfortunately they will probably be successful.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The Tea Party says that Obamacare will hurt the people that is claims to help the most. That some people will lose the insurance they now have and that insurance will cost them more. That it will greatly increase the over all cost and taxes. The left says that it is a great deal. That it will cover people not now covered now and will make insurance more affordable for more people at a reasonable cost. I doubt that things are quite as rosy as the left portrays. I hope that it is not as bad as its opponents think it will be.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Roger<o:p></o:p></p><blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid blue 1.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 12.0pt;margin-left:12.0pt;margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt'><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'><hr size=1 width="100%" align=center></span></div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>-----Original Message-----<br>From: "Nicholas Gier" <<a href="mailto:ngier006@gmail.com">ngier006@gmail.com</a>><br>To: vision2020 <<a href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</a>><br>Date: 10/11/13 10:29<br>Subject: [Vision2020] Establishment GOP: Tea Party Must be Stopped. This one's for Roger<o:p></o:p></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Hi Roger,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>As a local establishment Republican, which side are you taking in this national debate.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Inquiring minds wish to know,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Nick<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>An excerpt:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:7.5pt;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#222222'>An Associated Press-GfK poll released Wednesday showed why these party loyalists are so concerned: More Republicans told pollsters that the GOP is mishandling the shutdown than is handling it well. And among those who say it's being poorly handled, twice as many Republicans say the party is not doing enough to negotiate with Obama than those who say the party is doing too much.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:7.5pt;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - From county chairmen to national party luminaries, veteran Republicans across the country are accusing tea party lawmakers of staining the GOP with their refusal to bend in the budget impasse in Washington.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:7.5pt;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The Republican establishment also is signaling a willingness to strike back at the tea party in next fall's elections.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:7.5pt;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>"It's time for someone to act like a grown-up in this process," former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu argues, faulting Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and tea party Republicans in the House as much as President Barack Obama for taking an uncompromising stance.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:7.5pt;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is just as pointed, saying this about the tea party-fueled refusal to support spending measures that include money for Obamaspan>'s health care law: "It never had a chance."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:7.5pt;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The anger emanating from Republicans like Sununu and Barbour comes just three years after the GOP embraced the insurgent political group and rode its wave of new energy to return to power in the House.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:7.5pt;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Now, they're lashing out with polls showing Republicans bearing most of the blame for the federal shutdown, which entered its 11th day Friday. In some places, they're laying the groundwork to take action against the tea party in the 2014 congressional elections.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:7.5pt;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Iowa Republicans are recruiting a pro-business Republican to challenge six-term conservative Rep. Steve King, a leader in the push to defund the health care law. Disgruntled Republicans are further ahead in Michigan, where second-term, tea party-backed Rep. Justin Amash is facing a Republican primary challenger who is more in line with - and being encouraged by - the party establishment. And business interest groups, long aligned with the Republican Party, also are threatening to recruit and fund strong challengers to tea party House members.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:7.5pt;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Tea party backers are undeterred and assail party leaders.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:7.5pt;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>"They keep compromising," said Katrina Pierson, a former Dallas-area tea party organizer now challenging Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas in the 2014 GOP primary. "They all campaigned on fiscal responsibility. They just need to do what they campaigned on."<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:7.5pt;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>In more than a dozen interviews, Republican leaders, officials and strategists at all levels of the party blamed Obama for the shutdown but also faulted tea party lawmakers in the House, who have insisted that any deal to reopen the government be contingent on stripping money for the health care law.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:7.5pt;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>An Associated Press-GfK poll released Wednesday showed why these party loyalists are so concerned: More Republicans told pollsters that the GOP is mishandling the shutdown than is handling it well. And among those who say it's being poorly handled, twice as many Republicans say the party is not doing enough to negotiate with Obama than those who say the party is doing too much.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:7.5pt;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Party leaders interviewed said the tea party's demands to defund the health care law - and the House leadership's willingness to follow suit - were distracting from what they said is the GOP's best strategy to recover from its 2012 losses: a focus on reducing long-term spending. They said defunding the health care law would not achieve that goal because the money was already flowing to the law.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:7.5pt;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>"At the end of the day, you're fighting legislation that's already passed," said former South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Katon Dawson, describing the fight to defund the health care law as a lost cause.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:7.5pt;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Republican activists around the country also said in interviews that the shutdown - and House Republicans' demands - have deflected attention from problems with the launch of key parts to the health care bill.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:7.5pt;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Thousands of Americans were unable to shop for health insurance on the online marketplaces when they went live on Oct. 1 because of software glitches. And, these Republicans say, the GOP in Washington - and specifically tea party House members - got in the way of the troubled rollout, which the GOP could have seized on if the government were still open.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:7.5pt;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>"We're not saying Obama is right. We're saying what Republicans are doing is wrong," said Matt Cox, a former executive director of Ohio's Cuyahoga County GOP. He said that instead of pursuing the shutdown strategy, Republicans in Washington could have passed - and taken credit for - a spending measure that kept dollar levels at those set by the automatic $1.2 trillion across-the-board cut approved last year, also called the sequester.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:7.5pt;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Generally, these Republicans said that because of the tea party's effort to defund the health care law, the Republican Party had missed an opportunity to hammer Obama after he hit a rough patch over Syria just a month ago.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:7.5pt;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Former Illinois state Sen. Laura Douglas wants to believe that the holdouts can win. But she has her doubts.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:7.5pt;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>"My heart says, 'Keep fighting, don't give up,'" said Douglas, a resident of Quincy in western Illinois. "But my head says, 'If we keep this kind of thing up, we're going to get creamed next year.'"<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:7.5pt;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Her worries are reflected in the AP-GfK poll. Roughly three-quarters of Republicans nationally said their party in Congress deserves a moderate degree or most of the blame for the shutdown.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:7.5pt;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Even among Republicans, those who don't support the tea party mostly disapprove of how the GOP is handling the budget issue. Just 17 percent of Americans overall consider themselves tea party backers.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:7.5pt;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>And tea party allies are fighting back.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:7.5pt;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The Senate Conservatives Fund, an independent political action committee, has run ads asking tea party supporters to recruit primary election opponents for Republicans who voted for a measure that would have kept the government running with modifications in the health care law.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:7.5pt;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>In South Carolina, Fairfield County Republican Chairman Kevin Thomas is among those on the side of tea party lawmakers.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:7.5pt;margin-right:7.5pt;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;text-align:justify;line-height:15.0pt;vertical-align:baseline;outline: 0px;border:currentColor'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>"The only leverage we have is the budget," he said.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'><hr size=2 width="100%" align=center></span></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>=======================================================<br>List services made available by First Step Internet,<br>serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.<br>              <a href="http: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