By Heather Garlich
Congressional Quarterly

Electoral votes: 4

Delegates: 28

Chairman: Bruce Newcomb

Hotel: Clarion Suites (215) 922-1730

1996 Election:
Dole – 52%
Clinton – 34%
Perot – 13%

Idaho's history as an outpost of Western conservatism has long benefited Republicans. It can be argued, though, that the GOP has never been stronger in Idaho than it is today.

Both of the state's U.S. senators - Larry E. Craig and Michael D. Crapo - and its two U.S. House members -Mike Simpson and the retiring Helen Chenoweth-Hage - are Republicans. So are Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, himself as former senator; Lt. Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter, strongly favored this year to succeed Chenoweth-Hage in the 1st Congressional District; and 85 percent of Idaho's state legislators. One of those lawmakers, state House Speaker Bruce Newcomb, is the delegation chairman.

The delegation that this Republican stronghold is sending to the convention is mainly affluent and largely conservative. The delegates are a "cohesive group," said delegate Bart Davis, a state senator whose father, Harold Davis, is a former chairman of the state Board of Education. "Generally speaking, we have a conservative delegation with strong, moderate influences."

Bringing them all together, Davis said, is solid support for the party's presidential candidate, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, and the character traits they attribute to him such as integrity, honesty and trust. Idaho held its presidential primary May 23, long after the nomination was decided, and Bush won easily.

Idaho's economy is a mix of the traditional - farming (including the state's famous potatoes) and natural resource development (including mining and timber) - and the modern, with high-tech businesses, such as Hewlett-Packard Co. and Micron Electronics Inc., standing out as major employers.

Davis, a member of the convention platform committee along with fellow state Sen. Jack Riggs, said the Idahoans will demand that the next president pay heed to "Western" issues, such as land use, as well as general economic issues such as opening foreign markets to Idaho products.

Davis asserts that Bush would exhibit sensitivity to states' rights because of his tenure as governor. "You would have thought that someone who served as governor like President Clinton would be, but it was only lip service," Davis contended. "Gov. Bush will remember his roots in the states."

The delegation is taking the Republican Party's theme of family values literally. Delegate Shirley Taylor will travel to Philadelphia with her husband, state Rep. Bill Taylor, an alternate delegate. And while the governor and U.S. senators are not delegates, their wives - Patricia Kempthorne, Suzanne Craig and Susan Crapo - are.

IDAHO NOTABLES: State House Speaker Bruce Newcomb, the delegation chairman; Idaho first lady Patricia Kempthorne; U.S. senators' wives Suzanne Craig and Susan Crapo; state Attorney General Al Lance; state Treasurer Ron Crane; state Senate Republican Floor Leader Jim Risch; Janet Miller, state president of the National Federation of Republican Women and former Republican national committeewoman.