2006 Governors Races

Idaho CBS NEWS PROJECTS C.L. "BUTCH" OTTERWINNER Democrat Jerry Brady vs. Republican C.L. "Butch" Otter (Open seat) Republican Rick Kempthorne left office after being appointed Secretary of the Interior by President Bush. Republican James Risch, who assumed the governor’s seat after Kempthorne’s departure, did not seek a full term. Otter was favored here. Brady ran against Kempthorne in 2002 and lost by double digits. Brady’s campaign theme was “Idaho is not for sale,” which refers to Otter’s abbreviated support of a plan to sell off Idaho’s public land to help fund Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. The President won the state with 68 percent of the vote in 2004 and it has no Democratic members of Congress.