In the late 1980s, when Betty Richardson served as Ada County Democratic Party chairwoman, her party made inroads in local legislative races - including a high-profile 1988 campaign, when a relatively unknown Mike Burkett ousted Jim Risch, the GOP's Senate president pro tem.

In 2002, she picked up 39 percent of the vote in a uphill bid to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Butch Otter. Running a congressional race was a doctoral education in politics, she now says, but she has no intent of running again.

These experiences shape Richardson's view of her current political involvement.

The former U.S. attorney is chairwoman of a committee recruiting Democratic candidates for the 2010 state and federal races.

Talk about an assignment where optimism will come in handy. At this point, the only Democratic candidate for statewide office is a fringe player, Lee Chaney of Preston, a self-described independent running for governor. The Democrats have no announced challengers to U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo and Rep. Mike Simpson, who would be up for re-election in 2010.

The party's past recruiting efforts have been spotty. In 2004, Crapo was re-elected without a Democratic challenge.

Richardson concedes that the GOP has some incumbents who probably cannot - or should not - be defeated in 2010. But she also says her party has some "outstanding prospects" to take on vulnerable Republican incumbents.

She won't name names - or say which races she is targeting. State party Chairman Keith Roark isn't as coy.

In announcing the recruiting committee last week, Roark said his top priority was finding an opponent for Otter, who figures to seek re-election for governor. "(He) has been focused on roads, to the exclusion of almost everything else, and he has lost the confidence of the Legislature and the people of Idaho."

Richardson says this about her former opponent: "Butch should not be given a free ride, and he will not be given a free ride."

All fine and good, but the Democrats are playing catch-up. They would have been much better off running out a candidate in May, when the memory of a dysfunctional 117-day legislative session was fresh in voters' minds. And no, that's not too early to start running: Otter jumped into the governor's race in December 2004, 23 months before his 2006 election.

Here's an indication of the Democrats' catch-up mode. Recruiting has been under way for some time, but the party decided to announce its recruiting committee after Republican Ada County Commissioner Sharon Ullman and independent Jana Kemp announced for governor. Leadership wanted Democratic faithful to know that the party is serious about fielding candidates, Richardson said.

Considering her political experience, Richardson is a good choice to lead recruiting efforts. She doesn't see her job as one of making a sales pitch. She says it's her job to provide unvarnished advice about the strengths and weaknesses of a prospective candidate - and a presumptive incumbent opponent. I suspect Richardson is brutally candid in those conversations.

In that spirit of candor, I've got to say this is an important few months for Idaho Democrats.

Richardson hopes the top of the ticket will begin taking shape by the end of the year.

She hopes to recruit fiscally conservative, socially moderate and business-oriented centrists. That profile sounds a lot like first-term Rep. Walt Minnick. While Minnick's Blue Dog independence has rankled some 1st Congressional District Democrats, Richardson believes candidates in the Minnick mold ultimately have the best chance of winning.

Trouble is, I'm not sure how many Minnick-esque candidates her party has. And if Democrats want to be viable in 2010 and beyond, they cannot be no-shows as they were for the 2004 Senate race. Richardson's recruiting efforts will say a lot about the health of Idaho's minority party.

THE X-FILES SYNDROME

I hate to admit it, but I am fascinated by the "birther" controversy.

Not because I think there's a shred of any concrete evidence at the heart of it. I am absolutely convinced that President Obama was born in Hawaii and was convinced when this non-story surfaced during the campaign.

The facts are settled, so instead I'm interested in the phenomenon. What keeps this story going?

Sure, there is the viral spread of information - or, in this case, misinformation - over the Internet. But that's old news. Anyone with an e-mail account has long ago been on the receiving end of a silly joke. A silly joke of a controversy about Obama's citizenship seems like a predictable next step.

I think there's something else here. Call it the X-Files syndrome. We want to believe.

"Birthers" are convinced our country is going in the wrong direction. They see problems at home and abroad - and believe the Obama presidency is at the root of the peril. Why not believe that the American electorate was duped into voting for a fraud candidate? I guess it's better than believing your fellow Americans came to their decision honestly.

They want to believe. And the more media attention this story gets, the more fervent their belief.

Obama was elected a year ago, defying odds and conventional wisdom, because he tapped into something central in the dispirited American voter. He recognized that these Americans were turned off on politics but still wanted to embrace hope and change. They wanted to believe.

The birthers have more in common with them than either side would comfortably admit.

Kevin Richert: 377-6437