The 2008 Idaho Senate race is in the national news this week. But it's been on my mind since April 11. That was the day I announced my candidacy for the seat now held by Larry Craig. Ever since then, I've been running for the Senate, but I've been working for it, too. Let me explain.
I first ran against Larry Craig (then a one-term incumbent) for the House of Representatives in 1982. I was 35 at the time. I'd started my public service career in 1969 as a military intelligence officer in the U.S. Army and then working with the great Senator Frank Church. He was my mentor, my role model and my inspiration to enter politics.
In the 1982 race for the U.S. House, I worked 22 jobs over an eight-month period, doing everything from milking cows to building logging roads. I had very little name recognition and no help from national party sources, but I still came very close to winning. In 1990 I was victorious when Craig moved on to the Senate.
Now I'm running again, this time for the U.S. Senate. I'm working again, too. One June morning, I showed up at 6 a.m. to work a shift hauling garbage in Orofino, Idaho. A week later, I shadowed a Certified Nursing Assistant in a nursing home and rehabilitation center in Pocatello. The week after that, I pulled a shift in a cheese factory in Twin Falls. And so on...I've packed cargo parachutes for smokejumpers fighting forest fires; I've worked on a farm; I've accompanied parole officers on their rounds; and I've hawked peanuts at a minor-league baseball game. (You can read about all of these at my website.)
It's definitely been an interesting summer, although with Labor Day here, I feel I've just begun. I am committed to keep working these next 14 months so that when I go to the U.S. Senate, I will have a real understanding of the tremendous pressures people face to raise their families, pay for housing, health care and education, plan for retirement and keep up with the rising cost of living. I am committed to addressing these issues. I want to give working families a voice that they haven't had for a long time. I also know that until Congress authorizes a responsible withdrawal from Iraq, we won't have the energy or the will to get much anything else done.
I have another job that will last from now until Election Day -- and that's to tell everyone that the conventional wisdom about Idaho is wrong. Yes, the ultra-conservatives have been dominant here for more than a decade. But it wasn't that long ago -- in the early 1990s, in fact -- that Idaho elected Democrats on a regular basis. I was one of them. And although Idaho narrowly missed sending another Democrat to Congress last year, the state's voters did elect six new Democratic state legislators (including one in Idaho Falls, which had not elected a Democrat for decades) and came very close in three state senate races. The pendulum is swinging here, too, like in Montana and Colorado.
I entered this race not knowing who my Republican opponent would be. I still don't know. But I don't care. I wake up every day believing in myself and working hard -- because I know now that's what families across Idaho and across our nation do, day after day. People want integrity and accountability. People want a new direction. Most of all, people want results. I will honor them by running a campaign that's light on partisan rancor and heavy on hard work. I invite your comments and your support.
Have a great Labor Day. Let's make political history together.
Larry
You are doing the one thing that I believe would have the power to change the way those in both the Senate and the House choose to represent their constituents, and, therefore, the way this country is governed.
You are making the effort to learn first hand about the reality of what it's like to work for a living out there in the United States of Corporate Dominance. You're learning about how it feels to work a 12-hour day and not be able to feed your kids and buy them clothes. And you're probably learning what it also feels like to have one or two of them who suffer from medical issues you can't get treated because your 3 part-time jobs don't provide you with insurance and/or your insurance refuses to provide you with appropriate medical care.
You, and the handful of others like you, are our best chance for a real voice in Congress. Bravissimo.
Just stay out of fudge factories, airport bathrooms and (blasphemous) Evangelical Christian churches, and you should be good-to-go for the Senate in 01/2009.
The people of Idaho just got another view of Repulsblican hypocracy, with a closet queer railing (and voting) against Gay Rights - probably more out of self-loathing than out of any sort of moral convictions.
I can't want to hear from the guy who gave him a blowjob - or was it the other way around - in the Washington, DC train station....
I salute the author for running because it gives the voters a choice. It is always disappointing to see how many House of Representive members run unopposed for re-election.
All troops home in a week guaranteed. When it is his family that is dying then the war mongering changes direction fast very fast.
Here is my view of you politicians. Neo cons are chicken hawks and demos are deceptive and spineless. Demos want this war to continue far into 2008 to win it all in that self centered city called wash dc.
See we care about American lives but not Iraqis. How much sleep have Americans lost due to our killing over a million Vietnamese? We should ask the Vietnamese for forgiveness for that illegal war under false pretense, then we are on our way to becoming a Christian nation.
We have become an imperialist nation based on war for profits to feed our industrial military complex.
OUCH!
Good Luck to you, Mr. LaRocco - I will be supporting you. But one thing I've come to realize here in Idaho, is that nothing really matters to the majority of voters in this state except for one thing - guns. No matter what you stand for, or what your opponent does, Mr. LaRocco; all they have to do is say that "you're a Democrat and Democrats want to take away our guns!", and the gun nuts here will come out in droves to vote against you.
I hope that doesn't happen, and I'll be voting for you no matter what they say.
Had Al Gore took his rightful place as president when he should have....think hard....where would this country be right now.....what would be different.....If that doesn't make you sick......
I hear that they're VERY worried about your race.
Now please define what a "responsible" exit from Iraq would be, and based on your answer, I would gladly support your campaign.
I do admire your willingness to experience the working mans daily life. I applaud you for gaining first hand knowledge.
Now about Iraq......... ?
Are you sure you don't want to move to Texas?
Thank you for your post. I was in Idaho two years ago in Sun Valley with the Dali lama and Willie Nelson. My nephew and his wife teach in the ski school and live in Ketcham.
I am a huge fan of Frank Church and his work.
The tide in this country is turning. The fight for peace and freedom will never end. I hope that the Idaho voters will realize that the future is ours with support from men like you.