November 05, 2008

Hunger for healing in U.S., Idaho fueled intense interest in presidential election

BY DAN POPKEY - dpopkey@idahostatesman.com

For Idaho voters, the presidential race was weighted with a singular purpose not seen since Ronald Reagan's election.

So bruised is the country that even in a state that's voted Republican in 11 straight presidential contests, people who thought they couldn't make a difference felt compelled to try.

Among them was Boisean Jolene Hasse, who cast a ballot for Barack Obama. Hasse is 48 years old. She marked her first ballot.

Ever.

"The last four years have been pretty rough," said Hasse. "Everybody needs to get past the 'I don't make a difference,' including me."

Hasse's maiden election was solely focused on the beleaguered national spirit. She waited almost an hour to vote, filled in the oval for Obama and turned in her ballot, leaving blank every other race.

After the nation spoke, Obama and John McCain rewarded Hasse with vows to put country first and heal an anxious nation.

McCain's concession was a ringing call for national purpose.

"I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited."

Obama took up where McCain left off: "Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long."

Obama spoke of the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, who carried the flag for "a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity. Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress."

Idaho's two senior GOP lawmakers, Sen. Mike Crapo and Rep. Mike Simpson, echoed those calls, congratulating Obama and noting the historical significance of his victory.

I spoke with 30 voters across Ada and Canyon counties after they cast ballots Tuesday. Only one put a higher priority on a down-ticket race.

That's not normal. In 24 years of covering Idaho politics, I've found voters often care more about a sheriff's race or a congressional seat than the president because they know Idaho's a done deal.

The last time people seemed as single-minded was 1984, when President Reagan won 72 percent of the vote - the second-highest mark in a presidential election since statehood.

There is a parallel between Reagan and President-elect Obama - who won the national popular vote 52 percent to 47 percent. Americans, and Idahoans, are hungry for healing. The national yearning echoes 1980, when Reagan beat President Jimmy Carter, surprising the country with a sweeping victory akin to Obama's. In 1980, inflation, interest rates and the hostage crisis left America in what Carter famously called "malaise."

Today, it's a war dragging on in the Middle East and an economy in crisis.

One thing was common to many voters I spoke with, regardless of whom they backed: They want an end to an era of divisiveness that began with the Clinton presidency and accelerated during the eight years of Bush.

Bob Kresge of Garden City is a 63-year-old engineer who voted for Obama. He says Obama's being the first non-white president will be "an incredible step forward for our country."

But Kresge said the cultural leap is icing on the cake. What matters more, he said, is Obama's competence, intelligence and organizational skills. "He has caused such enthusiasm," Kresge said. "And that's exactly what the country needs - to start pulling together."

For me, the seminal moment of the campaign came on the night Obama won the Iowa caucus. He was ebullient, but also keenly sober about what seemed suddenly in reach. "They said this day would never come," he said. "They said our sights were set too high."

Having on Tuesday achieved a pinnacle once unthinkable, Obama must heed the chorus for unity.

He must reach out to leery McCain voters like Donald Branton of Eagle, who voted for some Democrats, but not Obama. "I think he's a socialist," said Branton.

If Obama attempts to govern like he voted in the Senate, he's doomed. He may well have to stand up to larger Democratic majorities in Congress and temper their liberal aims.

One of the smartest Democrats around, former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey predicts that's just what Obama will do. This election was not a mandate for the left, says Kerrey, but a call for bipartisan centrism.

Crapo and Simpson hope Obama adopts Reagan's template and reaches across the aisle.

If Senate Democrats near the 60-vote filibuster-proof majority, Obama's task may actually be tougher, Crapo said. Early Wednesday morning, they looked to fall short of that number.

"If Obama is dealing with a Congress that has no meaningful check on it like the filibuster, then the question becomes: How will he deal with his own party? Will it be (Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid's and (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi's agenda or will Obama step in and do as Kerrey suggests and try to moderate?"

Simpson reminded his audience at the GOP election party in Garden City that Obama's rise should make every American proud because it represents how far we've come. They applauded, with conviction.

Simpson said he guesses Obama will govern from the middle. "The mandate of the people is to solve some problems," he told the Statesman.

Simpson figures Obama will remember the lessons of 1994, when Bill Clinton's overreaching led to the GOP takeover of Congress. "Obama is the one who has to bring them down to the reality of what can be done. And I think he's smart enough to do that."

Reporter and columnist Dan Popkey has covered Idaho politics since 1984. Reach him at 377-6438.