In 2006, C.L. Otter vacated his seat in the U.S. House of
Representatives to run for governor of Idaho. Bill Sali won a six-way
primary and became the GOP nominee for the seat, and Larry Grant
overwhelmed his single opponent three-to-one to become the Democratic
candidate.
As history notes, the 2006 elections were not kind to the Republicans,
who had held both houses of Congress and the presidency. With narrow
wins in Montana and Virginia, control of the U.S. Senate turned to the
Democrats, and in the House, the Democrats netted 31 more seats, giving
Nancy Pelosi the speaker’s gavel.
I could go on. Donald Rumsfeld resigned that Wednesday, a move which
many Republicans felt could’ve helped them if it had happened a few
weeks earlier, and Dennis Hastert, a blustery congressman from
Illinois, ended up resigning, too, apparently not content to sit in the
minority as he had done between 1987 and 1995.