If elected to the Senate, I will change the state of Idaho. All Jim Risch will do is change addresses.

The above quote is a close paraphrase of what I heard  Senate candidate Rex Rammell say from the podium at the Canyon County Lincoln Day Banquet several days ago.

I will check with Rammell later to get his exact quote.

Rammell has filed a lawsuit against the state and one of his campaign opponents, Lt. Gov. Jim Risch, demanding compensation for dozens of his elk killed after they escaped from Rammell's ranch in 2006, the Idaho Statesman reports.

I shook hands with Rammell in the hallway that night at the Nampa Civic Center. Ironically, he was chatting with longtime Risch ally John Sandy, who I also proceeded to shake hands with. 

I can only wonder what those two were discussing. But of course, I can ask.

Risch is no stranger to nasty races. Word has it that his race for Lt. Governor ended up being one of the nastiest in recent memory around Idaho political circles.

"Risch, who was governor at the time, authorized the Department of Fish and Game to kill domestic elk that escaped from Rammell's Chief Joseph ranch in eastern Idaho because of fears they could pollute the wild elk gene pool," the Statesman story says.  "The lawsuit, filed in Fremont County, where the elk escaped, claims that order violated Rammell's civil rights and asks for damages."

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I remember reading and watching this Elk story play out in the Southern Idaho media, and how Risch didn't blink when the war went down. But I knew that there had to be some further fallout.

I would check in with both candidates in this saga tomorrow night at the Bannock County Lincoln Day Banquet in Pocatello, but my wife's cousin is getting married at the Boise LDS Temple.

Family comes before politics.

However, I will be blogging a lot about this race to replace Larry Craig, as it is clear that emotions are high and that things are going to get very rough, very shortly.

-- Michael