... candidates who do may be sorry:

The energy of this election year has me reflecting on Idaho's deep role in the larger picture.

Interestingly, even our own political pundits sometimes underestimate us:

"In the hoopla surrounding Sen. Barack Obama's visit three days before the Feb. 5 Idaho caucus, I exaggerated the historic nature of his trip. I wrote that Obama was the 'first major presidential candidate to visit Idaho near an election since (Idaho) Sen. Frank Church in 1976," wrote columnist Dan Popkey.

Readers wrote in that Ronald Reagan and Gary Hart also were in Idaho at key moments. Reagan spoke in Idaho Falls Oct. 14, 1980, three weeks before he defeated President Jimmy Carter and helped then-Rep. Steve Symms unseat Church. Reagan won Idaho with 67 percent of the vote, Popkey said. 

He added: "Hart, campaigning for the Democratic nomination against Walter Mondale, was in Boise on May 18, 1984. Hart beat Mondale 58 percent to 30 percent in the May 22 Idaho primary, but Mondale won the nomination. In November, Reagan bested Mondale to win a second term."

Idaho remains Obama's best state, even when we consider his string of victories after being here.

Obama won Idaho with 80 percent.

His next best win is the District of Columbia - 75 percent;

followed by:

Washington state and Nebraska - 68 percent;

Georgia and Minnesota - 66 percent;

and his home-state of Illinois - 65 percent.

By the way, where have John McCain and Hillary Clinton been?

-- Michael