Tag: ID-01

It’s no secret that frosh GOP Rep. Bill “Brain Fade” Sali has been having a hard time raising money since his narrow win in 2006. Indeed, at the end of June, Sali only had $250K in the bank, and $136K in debts — including several bills left outstanding to disgruntled Idaho-based consultants.

With the economy in the shitter (thanks, Republicans!), Brain Fade is coming up with some unique strategies to replenish his coffers:

But out in Idaho, Rep. Bill Sali has decided to raise money by using a simple, grass-roots technique that church groups and youth sports teams have employed for decades – he’s hosting a yard sale!

Actually, the freshman Republican is urging all of his supporters to host yard sales, with the profits from all those old clothes, dishes and furniture going to his Congressional campaign. Yard sale hosts also receive campaign literature to hand out to their bargain-seeking clients, a way to generate interest in the campaign while raising money.

“Some people who are calling our campaign have never been involved in a campaign before,” spokesman Noah Wall tells HOH. “They’re looking for ways to help Bill, and a yard sale is a neat way for them to get involved.”

Good luck with that, Bill. Maybe I can buy a Jell-o mold in the shape of Idaho for a quarter at one of these.

Apparently Bill Sali’s bad case of “brain fade” impairs his ability to read a map, because he has opened his campaign headquarters for his race to win a second term in ID-01… in ID-02. [Link is behind paid firewall; sorry!]

Idaho congressman Bill Sali has opened a new campaign office just upstairs from his congressional office in Boise – both of them in the 2nd Congressional District. Sali represents the 1st District.

“It’s a convenient location, and it’s a centralized location where people can interact easier with the congressional office,” said Sali spokesman Wayne Hoffman. “It’s in downtown Boise. A lot of people come downtown to see the offices of their elected officials.”

So there’s not only the matter of being in the wrong district, but this also raises the question of building the proper separation between campaign and congressional offices. Oh, well… based on Sali’s skill at filing his FEC notices, it’s not like he’s let a few “rules” ever get in his way.

Democratic opponent Walt Minnick has an office located in the western part of Boise, in ID-01. (He also has almost twice as much cash on hand as Sali.)

UPDATE: Wow, Sali’s not the only one. Turns out John Shadegg’s campaign HQ is in AZ-04 instead of AZ-03, too!

Earlier this week, the DCCC announced that it was hitting back against a recent Freedom’s Crotch radio ad buy against Democrats in ten districts with ads of their own. The DCCC has just filed their independent expenditure reports for the buys, which we’ve rounded up below:

• ID-01: $10,000 in support of Walt Minnick
• LA-06: $13,000 in support of Don Cazayoux
• MI-07: $38,000 in support of Mark Schauer
• MO-06: $24,500 in support of Kay Barnes
• NH-01: $17,000 in support of Carol Shea-Porter
• NM-01: $10,000 in support of Martin Heinrich
• NY-29: $6,500 in support of Eric Massa
• OH-15: $33,000 in support of Mary Jo Kilroy
• OH-16: $17,000 in support of John Boccieri
• PA-10: $7,000 in support of Chris Carney

Expect to see a lot more of this in the weeks and months to come.

Democrat Walt Minnick is up on the airwaves in Idaho with his first two ads in his race against crumb-bum GOP Rep. Bill “Brain Fade” Sali:

The ads are airing in the Boise and Spokane/Coeur d’Alene media markets.

It’s a miracle: the Bill Sali team has finally filed its 2Q fundraising report with the FEC. Combining those numbers (which cover the period from 5/8 through 6/30) with their pre-primary report, Sali raised $229K for the quarter and has $250K on-hand. Of course, when it comes to Bill “Brain Fade” Sali, not everything can go smoothly:

Sali for Congress has completed the July 15 quarterly filing.  However, in reviewing the report, we have found that the Column B Election cycle to date numbers are incorrect.  If fact, the cycle to date numbers $1,032,555.70 are identical to the 30 Day Post General 2006 report.  We have no way to explain this anomaly.

Allow me to do the math for them: Bill Sali’s correct cycle-to-date number is $656,506.36.

Well, he was nearly a week late, but Republican Luke Puckett finally filed his second quarter fundraising report with the FEC last night. Let’s take a look at the raw numbers: $15,850 raised from 4/17-6/30 and under $49K raised to date.

The small silver lining for the deadline-challenged candidate is his $171,000 cash-on-hand total (most of which came from a personal loan), but that’s still well behind Donnelly’s $1 million war chest. This one is starting to look even bleaker for the GOP.

In other FEC filing news, Regina Thomas, who unsuccessfully challenged John Barrow in the GA-12 Democratic primary, finally filed an FEC report, although it was one that only covered the period from 6/20 through 6/30 instead of the pre-primary period as required by FEC regulations. Curiously, Thomas reported only having raised $20K to date, even though I recall her having raised nearly $42K on Actblue before July 1st.

But at least she’s not as hapless as the geniuses over at the Bill Sali (R-ID) campaign, who still haven’t filed a second quarter fundraising report a week after filing this message with the FEC:

I am unable to file the 2nd quarter 2008 FEC report, as FEC technical support is still attempting to fix the Sali for Congress data file.  I first attempted to upload a file to the FEC site on June 6. I again tried on June 9, using the new FEC software update, without success. I then sent FEC technical support a copy of the Sali for Congress FEC file. FEC technical support is still attempting to fix the file so that it may be uploaded. I am in regular contact with FEC technical support and the FEC analyst, in an effort to resolve this matter.

Rep. Bill “Brain Fade” Sali just can’t stay out of trouble. His latest offense? Supporting a successful insurgent candidate against the incumbent Idaho GOP chair, who was the preferred choice of Gov. “Butch” Otter. The Idaho Statesman’s Dan Popkey writes that crossing Otter might have some in-state consequences:

But Otter matters most. If he throws his arms around Sali – as 2nd District GOP Rep. Mike Simpson literally did in 2006 – it could be decisive. Otter can help Sali retire a $135,000 debt and keep pace with Minnick, who out-raised Sali two-to-one in the first quarter.

Or Otter could decide his schedule is just too tight to help the congressman who defied him, leaving Sali reliant on out-of-state money and following the beat of his different drummer on the campaign trail. […]

“It was a slap in the face to the governor,” said a GOP lawmaker who spoke to me on condition I not use his name.

When asked about getting even, Otter replied: “Wait and see.”

Sali has strained some other relationships at home, too. From Real Clear Politics:

The incumbent faces more pressing problems for the current campaign. Sali’s consultant, an Idaho-based firm called Spartac LLC, is the candidate’s long-time friend, but he says he won’t do any more work for the incumbent unless he’s paid first, the Spokane Spokesman-Review reported last month. Sali still owes Spartac $76,000, and has total debts of $135,000, according to FEC reports.

It’s no secret that Sali has had trouble fundraising, which is why he was added to John Boehner’s ROMP program earlier in the year. But if Sali is going to rely on PACs and his fellow members to bail his ass out against well-funded Democrat Walt Minnick, should he really be insulting one third of the House GOP caucus? From the Politico:

Rep. Bill Sali (R-Idaho), addressing a gathering at the Shake the Nation rally in Idaho on May 16, told those assembled that he goes “to work in a place that, well, it’s quite a mess: your nation’s capital.”

“I tell people,” he said, ” ‘As bad as you ever thought it was, just know it’s a lot worse.’ In spite of that, I work with a group of probably around 130 people that are very good folks, people that I look up to, that I respect a great deal, people who would be quite comfortable sitting in these pews on a Sunday. I hope you’re encouraged by that.”

What does Sali think of the other 69 of his Republican colleagues? Are they godless heathens?

You’ve got to hand it to Bill Sali — he sure knows how to make politics in Idaho interesting.

SSP currently rates this race as Likely Republican.

From Roll Call:

In a potentially worrying sign for freshman Rep. Bill Sali (R-Idaho), he escaped Tuesday’s 1st district GOP primary against Iraq War veteran Matt Salisbury with just 57 percent of the vote, according to the unofficial election results posted by the Idaho secretary of state.

Salisbury closed the pre-primary fundraising period with just $3,500 on hand, spending a total of $43,000 on his campaign on contributions of $46,600. Considering that Salisbury ran a campaign bereft of a serious advertising effort, the outcome of this contest could signal trouble ahead for Sali in the general election.

57% is awfully weak, especially considering that Salisbury ran a low-profile, poorly funded campaign. Unless voters were confused by the letters “Sali” being in both names (which I doubt), that’s an awfully high protest vote.

It’s also worth noting that Ran Paul scored 25% against John McCain in Idaho’s presidential primary, which was also last night.  As Roll Call notes, that’s a decently-sized libertarian vote that Democrat Walt Minnick can play to.

SSP currently rates this race as Likely Republican.

Update: The final result was actually 60% for Sali.  That’s still very weak.

This just in: the DCCC has announced that congressional challengers Ashwin Madia (MN-03) and Walt Minnick (ID-01) have been added to the Red to Blue program.  Madia, fresh off the official endorsement of the state Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party in Minnesota, is running for the open seat vacated by the retiring Jim Ramstad (R).  Madia is a particularly notable figure because of his humble roots– he grew up in poverty, the son of immigrants from India– and because of his service as a Marine in the Iraq War.  His only Republican opponent at this time is State Rep. Erik Paulsen.

Walt Minnick is a Harvard-educated businessman and an advocate for environmental conservation.  He has a moderate track record in terms of his work for both political parties.  In running against Congressman Bill Sali, Minnick will give residents of the Boise region a chance to be represented by a competent person, rather than a complete nutjob.

So, congrats to both, and bravo to the DCCC– strength in numbers!  Woohoo!

The field has narrowed in the race against freshman GOP Rep. Bill “Brain Fade” Sali:

Former Micron executive Larry Grant said Thursday morning that he will not run for the U.S. House in Idaho’s 1st congressional district.

Instead, Grant endorsed Walt Minnick, a former timber executive who ran for the U.S. Senate in 1996. […]

Grant lost to Republican Bill Sali in the 2006 election and was under pressure from some in the Idaho Democratic Party to drop out this time.

Grant appeared at a news conference in Boise with Minnick and Democratic former Gov. Cecil Andrus.

This isn’t very surprising.  Grant has had very little fundraising success in his second kick at the can (just $60K raised last year), while Minnick’s been posting huge numbers (over $400K raised in the 4th quarter).

It’s going to be a lot tougher to beat Sali this time, but hopefully Minnick’s large cash reserves should make this nutter sweat.