Shirley Ringo will give Raul Labrador a Real Fight

Critics have claimed that state Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, is wasting her time challenging Congressman Raul Labrador, R-Idaho.

Here is the background. According to Betsy Z. Russell of The Spokesman-Review:

Longtime Idaho state Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, announced Monday that she’ll seek Idaho’s 1st District congressional seat in 2014, the first opponent to emerge for second-term GOP Rep. Raul Labrador.

Labrador, a high-profile tea party favorite, just announced last week that he’ll run for a third term in Congress, rather than run for governor of Idaho, in an effort to quiet speculation that he said was getting out of hand.

Ringo, a former longtime high school math teacher who holds a key seat on the Legislature’s joint budget committee, said, “We all know that Congress doesn’t have a very positive approval rating at this time, with their inability to compromise and get things done. And I have the sense that Congressman Labrador is part of the problem.”

While Ringo acknowledges that she faces an “uphill battle” as a member of Idaho’s small Democratic minority, she’s talked with moderate Republicans who are “not particularly happy with the direction that some of the more extreme members of their party are taking.”

"... you’ve not seen this kind of political dynamic in Idaho for some time," writes Marty Trillhasse of The Lewiston Tribune. The columnist points out several reasons why Labrador will not have a cakewalk back to his third term in Congress.