Washblog

Now, thanks to recent political initiatives like the Foothills Levy and the campaign of Boise Mayor Dave Bieter, as well as mentoring by legislative leaders, the farm team is growing. Enter Jaquet's office and you see them: young men and women, bustling in and out.

"We're on our fourth generation," Jaquet says proudly. "This is a Washington State model: identify young people as interns and train them to run campaigns. The Republicans are always saying, 'Wendy, you're doing this right, bringing these people along.' I was just copying what I thought they did."

..."When I first came on, there were two of us," she says.

That changed when the Democratic Party came under the control of Howard Dean, the former presidential candidate who now chairs the Democratic National Committee. Last summer, he announced the national party would fund three positions for Idaho's Democrats, a move he made for several states. The money funded two field organizers now working around the state, as well as a communications-director position currently occupied by former newsman Chuck Oxley. Weeg and other Democrats grabbed at the help and ran with it.

"All of a sudden there's more energy, enthusiasm, and more help," says Stennett. "We didn't have that for a long time."