Risch, Minnick have cash advantage over rivals
Key political races heat up in Idaho
By JOHN MILLER
Associated Press
Wednesday, July 16, 2008 10:57 AM PDT
BOISE — Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jim Risch has a 4-to-1 cash advantage over Democrat Larry LaRocco in the race to replace outgoing Sen. Larry Craig, who isn’t running for a fourth term after his 2007 sex-sting arrest.
Meanwhile, Democratic 1st District U.S. House hopeful Walt Minnick has maintained his fundraising lead over incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Sali after the April through June period.
Risch had cash on hand of just over $1 million June 30, while LaRocco had $242,229, according to reports filed Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission. For the quarter, Risch had contributions of $506,376; LaRocco raised $232,577.
Risch and LaRocco are old rivals, having faced each other in 1986 for state Senate and again in November 2006 in the race for lieutenant governor, with Risch winning both times. Risch’s campaign manager and son, Jason Risch, called the latest cash-on-hand disparity a ‘‘financial disaster’’ for LaRocco’s campaign, especially given LaRocco on July 1 released results of his own poll of 500 likely voters showing he trailed Risch by 15 percentage points.
‘‘You need to have a plan to make that up, and that costs money,’’ Jason Risch said. Risch, a millionaire lawyer and rancher, lent himself another $100,000 in the latest quarter, on top of $380,000 earlier in the campaign. Risch repaid $130,000 of that amount from contributions.
Bob Stout, LaRocco’s manager, said his campaign aims to win by setting up a strong organization early, including 22 paid staff and interns in three offices around Idaho.
That way, the two-term congressman — he lost to Helen Chenoweth in 1994 — will be poised to take advantage of GOP dissatisfaction due to peak later this year, Stout said.
‘‘It’s a grassroots organization,’’ he said. ‘‘Unlike Risch, who runs his office from a bunker, we have an organization throughout the state. Running as a Republican in Idaho isn’t what it was in 2006.’’
Independent candidate Rex Rammell, a conservative former elk rancher from eastern Idaho whose run for U.S. Senate is viewed as a spoiler candidacy because of his personal enmity for Risch, didn’t immediately make his latest financial reports available to The Associated Press. While serving as interim Idaho governor in 2006, Risch ordered an emergency hunt of as many as 160 domesticated elk that escaped from Rammell’s ranch that August. Minnick, a former timber industry executive, had cash-on-hand of $416,000 at quarter’s end, after raising some $361,000 in the quarter, his campaign said. A Sali aide said the Kuna Republican has about $250,000 banked, after raising about $245,000 since April. The latest numbers come after Minnick raised nearly twice as much money as Sali in the first three months of the year.
In the campaign so far, Minnick has raised just over $1 million, while Sali’s fundraising totals are about $762,000.
Minnick campaign spokesman Jon Foster contends Minnick’s current cash advantage with four months to go before the November general election is a sign many in western Idaho’s 1st Congressional District are dissatisfied with Sali’s performance in Washington, D.C.
‘‘It’s surprising that an incumbent congressman has so much difficulty finding support,’’ Foster said.
Minnick contributed $50,000 of his own money, in addition to the $100,000 he gave his campaign in 2007. Wayne Hoffman, a spokesman for Sali, downplayed Minnick’s financial advantage, saying fundraising was going well and that money wouldn’t be decisive.
‘‘Congressman Sali represents the values of people of the 1st Congressional District,’’ Hoffman said. In Idaho’s 2nd Congressional District race to represent eastern Idaho, five-term Republican incumbent Rep. Mike Simpson reported $135,000 cash on hand, after adding about $100,000 to his coffers from April to June 30.
