In 1998, then-GOP Rep. Mike Crapo won this open Senate seat with 70 percent. When he ran for re-election for a second term in 2004, Democrats weren’t able to recruit a competitive candidate so they planned to run a placeholder. But that candidate, engineer Scott McClure, missed the filing deadline by minutes. McClure ran as a write-in candidate, getting just 4,136 votes. Crapo took 99.2 percent.
It doesn’t appear that Crapo will get much of a challenge in his bid for a third term either. There are no potential Democratic challengers even mentioned as looking at the race.
Democrats scored a big victory in 2008 when businessman Walt Minnick defeated GOP incumbent Rep. Bill Sali in the 1st congressional district. That victory was the only bright spot for the party that year. Republicans hold the governorship and healthy majorities in both chambers of the state legislature. Former Lt. Gov. Jim Risch easily won an open Senate seat with 58 percent of the vote to 34 percent for Democrat Larry LaRocco. GOP presidential nominee John McCain took 62 percent of the
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