Blaine County election breakdown
It’s unanimous—Bush triumphs in Yale 13-0
By TRAVIS PURSER
Express Staff Writer
During last week’s election, Blaine County lived up to its reputation
as an enclave of liberals surrounded by conservatives. The vote tally also reaffirmed
something else people already know about the county—that it’s more conservative
in the south than it is in the north.
But there were exceptions to both those assumptions.
Dennis Wright, an incumbent Democrat running for reelection to his
south-county commissioner seat, was aided by north county votes to triumph over challenger
James Super, an Independent. Even though commissioners run for either a south-, middle- or
north-county district, they receive votes from all parts of the county.
In the south county, Super beat Wright in Gannet and Picabo (112 to 94)
and in tiny Yale (9 to 2). Wright, however, won the town in which he lives, Bellevue, (436
to 275) and, by a close margin, Carey (146 to 137).
Farther north, Wright won Hailey (1,617 to 937), Ketchum (894 to 446),
northeast Blaine County (217 to 132) and Sun Valley (231 to 149).
Wright and north county commissioner candidate Sarah Michael were the only
Democrats to win contested races in Sun Valley, an island of Republicans that favored
Texas Gov. George W. Bush over Vice President Al Gore 240 to 196 for president.
Over the entire county, Bush received 220 fewer votes than did Gore. Bush,
however, won Bellevue, Gannet, Picabo, Yale and Carey. Except for Bellevue (Bush 365, Gore
338) Bush’s margin was large in each of those towns. In Yale, Bush got all 13 of the
13 votes cast, while in Gannett and Picabo, he won 172 to 44, and in Carey he won 230 to
69.
Farther north, Gore won Ketchum (1,146 to 529) and Hailey by a smaller
margin (1,491 to 1,184).
Northeast Blaine County also voted a little differently from its
north-county neighbors.
Whatever leanings they may have, both the north and south county helped
reelect Republican Mike Simpson to the Second District of the U.S. House of
Representatives, with 3,898 county votes against 3,561 cast for Democratic challenger
Craig Williams. Northeast Blaine County was the only precinct to favor Williams, by the
small margin of 191 to 189.
Northeast Blaine County did, however, support Republican incumbent Tim
Ridinger for position B in Idaho State Representative District 21. Ketchum voters favored
Democrat Dick Andreasen, who lost with 2,836 votes cast in the county to Ridinger’s
3,256. Sun Valley also supported Ridinger (204 to 151), and so did the south-county cities
Yale, (9 to 1), Bellevue (436 to 275), Gannett and Picabo (158 to 36) and Carey (226 to
45).
Republican north-county commissioner candidate Ivan Swanner, running
against Sarah Michael, was another anomaly.
Even though he lost overall to Michael, Swanner won the four south-county
towns of Yale (11 to 1), Gannet and Picabo (112 to 73) and Carey (154 to 104).
Independent Sue Noel, also running for north-county commissioner, picked
up 36 votes in Carey and 35 in Gannett and Picabo. Countywide, she received 1,083 votes,
while Swanner got 2,019 and Michael got 4,420.
Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader failed to pick up the 5
percent of the vote he needed nationally to receive federal campaign funds in the next
election. In Blaine County, he picked up 4.9 percent with 428 write-in votes.
The Blaine County Board of Commissioners was scheduled to canvass last
week’s results, making them official, yesterday at 4 p.m.
