Larry LaRocco, running for U.S. Senate in Idaho, is holding a LIVE online video town hall meeting at 3pm ET today.  

You can watch -- and ask your questions -- right here:

In the last couple days, there have been several posts across the blogosphere citing what various candidates running for Congress have said on FISA and retroactive immunity for the telecoms.  But so far, it's been all over the map.  I'll try to corral all their statements into this diary, so you can see who the "good guys" are.

First, let's start off with the current House and Senate members who voted against this bill.  They do deserve credit, as it's their jobs on the line.

Follow me below the fold to see the dozens of Democratic challengers who are standing up for the Constitution, and are against this FISA bill and retroactive immunity.

Today a judge denied Sen. Larry Craig's request to withdraw his guilty plea in his Minneapolis airport men's room incident, saying Craig had entered into the plea "accurately, voluntarily and intelligently." Well, two out of three ain't bad.

Contrary to most expectations, Craig took the opportunity to announce he's going nowhere and intends to serve out the remainder of his term as a US Senator.

"I will continue to serve Idaho in the United States Senate, and there are several reasons for that. As I continued to work for Idaho over the past three weeks here in the Senate, I have seen that it is possible for me to work here effectively.

"Over the course of my three terms in the Senate and five terms in the House, I have accumulated seniority and important committee assignments that are valuable to Idaho, not the least of which are my seats on the Appropriations Committee, the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Veterans' Affairs Committee. A replacement would be highly unlikely to obtain these posts."

This is the best case scenario for Democratic challenger Larry LaRocco since it prevents Idaho Governor Otter from being able to appoint a replacement who would then go on to be the putative incumbent in the race next year. Instead, there will be a costly and divisive GOP primary, which may be quite crowded since, as mcjoan notes, 29 people had submitted their names to the governor for consideration to replace Craig. And who knows...Craig's decisions have been so unpredictable in the wake of his arrest, he may even decide to run for re-election.

I can't help but laugh at how Craig's defiance has got to be driving the GOP leadership crazy. Remember in the wake of his arrest, the leadership "moved swiftly" to oust him from the senate and GOP hacks like Tom DeLay went on TV to boast that when Republicans get in trouble, the leadership takes care of the situation, whereas when Democrats do, they get re-elected and are granted committee posts. Crooks And Liars has DeLay saying just that on Hardball in August. A strange line coming from Tom DeLay to be sure, but appropriate that it's one more thing he's said that's turned out to be B.S.

Give Larry LaRocco some love.

Update [2007-10-4 18:36:35 by Todd Beeton]: From CQ, NRSC chair John Ensign renews his call for Craig to resign.

Ensign, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, made clear that GOP leaders consider that the wrong decision. “He had his day in court, the judge ruled against him, and I’m calling on Sen. Craig now to keep his word,” Ensign said in a statement. And he issued a thinly veiled threat, noting that Craig’s conduct has been referred to the Senate Ethics Committee for investigation.

“I think it would be a mistake to put the Senate through an Ethics investigation process that could potentially lead to public hearings,” Ensign said. “It’s embarrassing for the Senate. It’s embarrassing for our party. It’s going to be obviously, I think, potentially very embarrassing, further embarrassing, for his family. I think that he should do the right thing and keep his word.”

[Check out Senate 2008 Guru's blog and please check out the Guru's ActBlue page!  I'm looking for just ten contributors.  Please chip in!]

I have been thinking about what Senate races I would most like to see additional dollars going toward.  The highest tier competitive races, states like (but certainly not limited to) Colorado and Virginia, will receive a great deal of attention.  While I don't want to discourage anybody from contributing to terrific Democratic candidates in these states (take nothing for granted!), I would like to see the map of competitive states expand as much as possible.  Many races in states that don't typically see competitive Senate races have the chance to be real pick-up opportunities.  But they need our support!

(Much more below the fold!)

The conventional wisdom surrounding the Craig resignation is that, in the end, it's likely to do little to change the make-up of the senate, either in the short term or long term. Indeed, the reason the GOP moved so swiftly to pressure Craig to resign is that Idaho has a Republican governor who will presumably appoint a Republican to the seat, thus keeping it red through the remainder of Craig's term and allowing a putative incumbent to run in 2008. But this conventional wisdom all depends on the actions of two men: Sen. Larry Craig himself and the governor of Idaho, C.L. "Butch" Otter and it's not altogether clear that they intend to do things according to plan.

First, on Fox News Sunday today, Sen. Arlen Specter raised what The Politico calls "the most interesting question of the day about Sen. Larry Craig." From TPM:

"I'd like to see Larry Craig go back to court, seek to withdraw his guilty plea and fight the case," Senator Arlen Specter said on 'Fox News Sunday'. [...]

Specter also said it was not too late for Craig to change the status of his resignation.

"He said he intends to resign. When you have a statement of intent to resign that intent could change," he said.

Presumably, Craig chose his words carefully in his press conference yesterday and so it does beg the question why he didn't say "will resign" or "hereby resign, effective..." Ultimately though, if Craig does choose to seek vindication and reverse his intent to resign (an unlikely scenario to be sure,) it would merely extend his political life just to the end of his current term whereupon he'd retire. This would give Democrat Larry La Rocco his best case scenario (next to running against a compromised Craig, that is,) as surely La Rocco would prefer to go up against a Republican who a. does not have the benefit of incumbency (albeit brief and unelected) and b. who's emerged after a bloody primary fight. And while Craig isn't likely to deliver LaRocco that scenario, it's possible that Governor Otter just may.

There were many reports that called Otter's appointment of Lt. Governor Jim Risch a foregone conclusion, and no wonder. Last year Risch ascended from Lt. Governor to Governor of Idaho when then-Gov. Dirk Kempthorne resigned to become U.S. Secretary of the Interior. But despite being the sitting governor, Risch decided not to run against Otter for the position (Otter had announced his intention as early as 2004 to try to replace Kempthorne) and instead ran to get his old job back -- that of Lt. Governor -- and in fact ended up beating Larry LaRocco to win it. So, there might be the sense that Otter owes Risch. Not to mention that Risch had already been passed over for an appointment to Lt. Governor in 2001 (a position he later was elected to, alas...) So, Otter's apparent indecision in announcing his replacement raises several questions. Does Otter know something we don't vis a vis Craig's "intent to resign?" Is Risch a prohibitively problematic candidate? (He just may be, as Mark Schmitt at TPM Cafe reminds us.) Or does Otter intend to choose someone beyond the conventionally held frontrunners for the job? The New York Times explores the question:

Would Mr. Otter appoint the lieutenant governor, James E. Risch, a pragmatic conservative who deferred to Mr. Otter in the governor's race last year but is not a confidant? How about his friend and former colleague Representative Mike Simpson, perhaps a bit more aligned with Mr. Otter? Maybe it could be a place holder -- like Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, a former Idaho governor and senator -- who would allow someone else to run next year. Mr. Craig's term expires in January 2009.

The Idaho Democratic Party wasted no time in expressing its preference.

John Foster, executive director of the Idaho Democratic Party, urged Mr. Otter to name a place holder. "That would allow the people of Idaho to choose their own representation next year, rather than some Republican operative from Washington, D.C., doing it," Mr. Foster said.

Is this more than wishful thinking in the form of an excellent talking point? Possibly. Otter reportedly has libertarian leanings and is known for being unpredictable.

Though there seems no doubt the choice would be a Republican, many people say that contrary to what occurs in other states, where political succession can be choreographed, it is far from sure that Mr. Otter will keep to whatever game plan state Republican Party leaders may propose.

"Sometimes, my read is that whatever he does, I'll probably be surprised," said Robert L. Geddes, a Republican who is president of the State Senate.

While the two scenarios that would deliver La Rocco his best chances for victory are admittedly somewhat far-fetched, as we learned again last year, reality sometimes gets in the way of conventional wisdom. Not only will whomever Otter appoints likely get a fierce primary challenge in 2008 anyway, as The New York Times reports, while LaRocco won't actually be running against Craig in 2008, Craig will be on the ballot in spirit:

Larry LaRocco, a Democrat who has already declared his intention to run for Mr. Craig's seat next year, said in an interview that "the mood has changed" in the state amid the fallout over Mr. Craig. He also noted that the number of Democrats in Idaho was growing.

But The Washington Post sums up the reality of even La Rocco's worst case scenario, a loss (h/t Sven at My Silver State in the diaries):

"If Republicans are investing significant money in Idaho, that means they are losing at least five seats in 2008," said Nathan L. Gonzales, political editor of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report. "If Idaho ends up the fire wall, they are in deep trouble."

Let's make sure having to invest in Idaho is the least of the GOP's worries. Larry LaRocco for Senate.

As there isn't a U.S. Senate race in Nevada this cycle, about which we could write at My Silver State - Nevada's progressive community blog, and there are no major candidates yet to challenge Republican Congressmen Dean Heller (NV-02) and Jon Porter (NV-02), I'd like to take a look north across the Nevada stateline to Larry LaRocco's run for the U.S. Senate in Idaho.

By looking beyond Larry Craig's resignation announcement, I'd like to make an argument why Larry LaRocco is an ideal candidate to be featured on the Blue Majority fundraising page run by Daily Kos, Open Left, MyDD and the Swing State Project.

This is an excellent candidate video by Larry LaRocco, the man who's taking on Sen. Larry Craig in Idaho next year (h/t mcjoan.)

Wish him a happy birthday (was yesterday) and a happy anniversary (today) by giving via his ActBlue page.

Consider this an open thread.

Like many of you, I find out about candidates across the country by reading mydd or perusing the ActBlue donation lists.  One candidate who really has been growing on me, and who I donated to early on is Larry LaRocco who is running for Senate in Idaho.

But this diary isn't about where he stands on issues, or the fact that I've never been to the state, let alone West of the Rockies.  It has to do with Larry's handwriting - or more to the point - the simple fact that I have seen it.

Wait you say.  We've all seen candidates handwriting!  They "sign" the bottom of their fundraising letters!  Or sometimes they send out mass mailings in their handwriting that are copies of an original.  Well I'm talking about something different.  Jump with me!