Afew months back, 2006 Democratic congressional candidate Larry Grant, who lost to Republican Bill Sali in Idaho's 1st House district, seemed to be rolling unopposed for the nomination to a rerun in 2008. (He has not formally announced, but is broadly presumed to be in the running, and has not discouraged the presumption.)
Matters have changed. An educator at Moscow, Rand Lewis, said last winter he plans to run in that primary as well. Then came last Sunday's blast from Idaho Statesman columnist Dan Popkey, who recounted a string of self-induced problems from Grant's campaign last year along with his determination that the campaign was run, essential, just right. That seems to have jogged loose some additional Democratic interest.
The New West site is reporting this afternoon that Walt Minnick, a Boise businessman who in 1996 ran against Republican Senator Larry Craig, is interested in the 1st district Democratic nomination, at least to the point that people on his behalf are calling around to gauge interest. That doesn't mean he's necessarily running, of course. But it does tell you something about the present mindset of Idaho Democrats, as regards the Sali race.