Idaho GOP sets its sights on unseating Rep. Walt Minnick

Rep. Walt Minnick’s first 100 days in office are barely behind him, but already Republicans are looking to the 2010 election, when they will do everything they can to unseat Idaho’s Democratic congressman.

“Minnick is definitely one of our top targets,” said Joanna Burgos, a spokeswoman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, which works to elect GOP candidates.

First out of the gate is 40-year-old Vaughn Ward of Eagle, an Iraq war veteran who worked on Dirk Kempthorne’s staff when he was a senator from Idaho, and most recently worked for the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain’s – who carried 62 percent in Idaho’s 1st Congressional District last November.

Ward has devoted himself full-time to the 2010 congressional campaign and said his goal was to raise $50,000 in the first several months of the year – which he did. Ward also landed McCain’s first post-election endorsement, which came with a $2,500 contribution from the senator’s political action committee, Country First.

“I was surprised when he said, ‘Well, what can I do for you?'” Ward said.

Republicans in Idaho, too, have targeted Minnick since he unseated one-term Republican incumbent Bill Sali last fall, said Jonathan Parker, executive director of the state party.

“It’s the most Republican district in the nation that is currently held by a Democrat,” Parker said. “It’s common knowledge that an incumbent is most vulnerable his first election, so we feel this is our best shot at unseating him.”

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