WASHINGTON - 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."

Besides Ward, a half-dozen other Republicans are considered potential contenders in a primary, including State Treasurer Ron Crane. If Crane steps into the race, Parker said he expects many of the other potential GOP challengers to step aside.

The NRCC traditionally has avoided wading into primary elections, but that may change this election cycle, Burgos said, particularly where they want to avoid an expensive and distracting multiparty primary. Parker expects help from the NRCC and the Republican National Committee, whose chairman, Michael Steele, is a law school buddy of Idaho Republican Party Chairman Norm Semanko.

"The candidate who wins the primary needs to raise a lot of money to be successful," Parker said. "Just because it's a Republican district doesn't mean it's going to go that way."

So far this year, Minnick has raised $263,150. He was set to raise more than $10,000 this week in a fundraiser thrown by Republican Steve Symms, a lobbyist who once served in Congress in the seat Minnick now holds. Symms told the Statesman he wouldn't be voting for Minnick, and that the fundraiser was "just business" for his lobbying firm. The firm also plans a fundraiser for 2nd District Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho.

John Foster, Minnick's campaign and office spokesman, said that the congressman is raising money steadily.

"We've been pleased with how things have been going for the first three months," Foster said, "but we take nothing for granted."

Minnick hasn't given Republican voters much of a reason to vote against him, Foster said. Minnick is the only Democratic House member to renounce earmarks, and he crossed party lines to vote against the budget and the economic stimulus package.

He has aligned himself with the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats, and so far seems to be the most conservative of the bunch.

No other Democrat in the House votes as infrequently with his party as Minnick, according to a Washington Post database on congressional votes: Minnick votes with the Democratic Party just 70 percent of the time.

Erika Bolstad: (202) 383-6104