Super Tuesday could have local effects

It’s Super Tuesday and that’s super important for presidential candidates.

Even though Idaho is not one of the states holding contests Tuesday night, it could be directly affected by one of the candidates.

Dan Cravens, the chair of the Bingham County Republican Party, said one thing Idaho voters might not be aware of is Senator Cruz’s stance on the Department of Energy.

“In his ‘Five for Freedom’ plan, he talks of eliminating the Department of Energy,” said Cravens, “which obviously would have a very significant impact, and probably a very negative impact, on the Idaho National Lab, which employs several thousand people in our region.”

Eliminating the Department of Energy could mean shutting down INL. Both directly and indirectly, that could cost Idaho about 15,000 jobs.

Cravens said he doesn’t feel Cruz knows enough about INL specifically.

“From reading through their plan where they talk about the Department of Energy being harmful to entrepreneurs, and picking winners and losers, I don’t think they understand very well what the Idaho Department of Energy does, or the National Lab,” said Cravens. “I don’t think they understand also how important it is to our region.”

Cravens said he hopes Cruz’s visit to the region next week will give him a good chance to address the questions about INL, as well as allow him to see firsthand how important its operations are to the area.

He said he doesn’t want to discourage people from voting for Cruz, he just wants people to be informed of exactly who and what they’re voting for.

Cravens said that’s why Super Tuesday is so important, no matter which states it’s in.

Other party chairs agree that being informed is key.

“I think Idaho voters should pay attention to the candidates,” said Linda Leeuwrik, co-chair of the Bannock County Democratic Party. “To their speeches, and to how other people are voting. And any interviews the candidates give, any statements they put out. They should look at those candidates and kind of see where they stand on the issues that people are interested in.”

Cravens said focusing on topics people are interested in is why he predicts Trump will do well on Super Tuesday but won’t ever win more than 50 percent of the votes in a Republican primary.

“I think many people have doubts and think that he’s capitalizing upon a lot of anger and a lot of genuine frustration and concern that a lot of voters have who are affiliated with the Republican Party,” said Cravens.

Cravens also said that this year Idaho’s voters will really have a say because the primaries are early. Back in the 2008 elections, Idaho didn’t have contests until May, making the state almost an afterthought in candidate selection.

Cravens predicts that Idaho elections will vary county to county.

“I would expect the north of the state would be a little bit more leaning towards Trump, kind of given the political makeup,” said Cravens. “But I would suspect that Mr. Rubio would be fairly strong here. And Mr. Cruz, as well.”

Before voting in the Republican primary, all voters must be registered as a Republican, or a member of the Constitution Party.

The Republican primary for Idaho is March 8, followed by the Democratic caucus on March 22.