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I was born at Kootenai Medical Center in Coeur d'Alene in 1981. Back then, the hospital was a tiny fraction of what it is today, which is a huge fortress-like place. It has grown with the population, as it should.
I haven't lived in Coeur d'Alene/Spokane since I was really young. My parents had to move to California to obtain a living wage and we've been Californians ever since. Many people in California who know of Coeur d'Alene are shocked that a Coeur d'Alene native lives among them. I guess they think everyone who is born there stays there and all Californians who want a homogenous paradise go there to retire. I have often wondered what it would be like to move back to North Idaho and I have traveled up there quite often.
Here are some things I have noted about the area, its politics and its people:
Coeur d'Alene and all of North Idaho was once a very Democratic political area. In fact, it was very Democratic when I was a child due to the mining and logging influences. It was also a very Catholic part of the state of Idaho. When you get down south of Lewiston, it starts to become more Mormon-LDS very quickly and that's what Idaho is mostly known for. But the north was always different. It was always more Catholic and more Democratic than the rest of the state at the time.
As wealthy Californians started to discover Northern Idaho, they came in droves and brought their wealth with them. Many came from San Diego and Orange Counties. Others from LA, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Most of these were people looking to retire but some were fleeing the illegal Hispanic population during the 1990s. These new Californians were wealthier than the natives of Idaho and these Californians were also more Republican than natives of Idaho as well. Few people know that at one time, Idaho was as liberal as Massachusetts and sent a liberal, Frank Church, to the U.S. Senate. The new and wealthy California transplants changed all of that. They voted Republican almost reflexively. Between the 1980s and 1990s, Coeur d'Alene was transformed from a sleepy logging town on the lake to a burgeoning resort and recreation center. The 2000s have brought additional growth in population and retail.
Coeur d'Alene/Hayden/Post Falls/Rathdrum/Liberty Lake/Spokane Valley and Spokane proper have merged into a Metropolitan Area that is now recognized by the U.S. government as such.
Coeur d'Alene/Hayden is dominated by retail, tourism and hospitality. Post Falls is less touristy but the same applies. Hayden/Hayden Lake is a very wealthy area of Kootenai County. If you want a job outside of the dominant retail/tourism/hospitality triumvirate where the wages are slightly better, you have to look across the state line at commuting to Liberty Lake, Spokane and Fairchild AFB.
- The Coeur d'Alene/Post Falls/Spokane housing market is very expensive for the predominant wage level in the Inland Northwest. If you sell in California, Portland or Seattle, you'll be OK, but if you're a native trying to make it on Idaho wages, nice homes are hard to come by.
- If you bring your wealth with you to Coeur d'Alene (retirement or business) then you'll do alright. If you don't bring anything with you, on the other hand, it can be like a living hell in paradise where you work two or even three jobs to be able to make ends meet and pay for some sort of health insurance.
-The Republican politicians who dominate Idaho now took a libertarian "Las Vegas Style" approach to growth in that they believed the development and sprawl would never stop and pay for itself. When that stopped with the Recession, the GOP politicians in Boise made drastic cuts.
- It seems like the people that are now being drawn to Coeur d'Alene from Portland and California are lower middle-class people who are concerned about being able to own a gun and discharge of it whenever they feel like it. They don't seem to care about the environment, sprawl, the city infrastructure or the low wages.
All in all, I know that if I wanted to come back to Coeur d'Alene as a single, educated wage earner, a good and decent-paying job would be hard to come by. It would also be tough to find a home and have economic stability without an inside connection to the better-paying Spokane job market.
Just some observation from a Cd'A native on the changes I've seen and their effects.
The Coeur d'Alene area is still decidedly Democrat when compared to the conservatism of much of the rest of Idaho, with the exceptions of Latah County and Blaine County.
In Kootenai County's case, there are a number of Californians and retirees, many of whom trend Democrat.
Latah County is dominated by the educational culture with a large number of young people who generally trend Democrat.
Blaine County is home to Sun Valley, which is in turn home to many Californians and retirees.
Most recently in Coeur d'Alene and to a larger degree Kootenai County, individuals with Democrat views have been declaring as Republicans in elections. This works well, since anyone with the magic (R) behind their name on the ballot tends to win the election due to the reflex you mentioned. Additionally, Democrats have enjoyed great success running in non-partisan races where there is no party declaration. In fact, just this last election, there was a small fuss when locals noticed that for the past several elections, the Kootenai County Democrats had been endorsing their candidates in non-partisan elections on their website. After it was brought to light, to their credit, they immediately removed those endorsements.
The Democrat Party is alive and well around Coeur d'Alene. And very active.
As far as jobs go, yes, North Idaho has a rather tourist-oriented economy, but there are a number of manufacturers, farmers and distributors in the area. We are also home to a couple of rather large commercial call centers. It can be difficult finding jobs in some fields, but that's the story across the United States these days. Coeur d'Alene also has the benefit of being home to extension campuses for Lewis & Clark State College and University of Idaho, so professionals in higher education have job opportunities here, and students who don't want to live out of the area or commute long distance still have educational opportunities.
In the environmental arena, huge strides are being made away from conservative or even Republican thinking. Both Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls have dedicated a lot of resources toward urban renewal projects, which many or most conservatives are strongly against. Just recently, a road in Coeur d'Alene that most residents had assumed would be made into two lanes of one-way traffic was instead kept at a single lane of one-way traffic with the addition of a bicycle lane. In fact, Coeur d'Alene now has a fairly extensive network of walking and biking trails and bicycle lanes.
Additionally, the Kootenai County commissioners are moving toward introducing a new Unified Land Use Code, which is being handled by an out-of-state consultant who has specifically noted his desire to use the code to help redefine the county's population distribution in order to achieve 90% of residents living in urban areas and 10% living in rural areas in the county. The code calls for additional EPA oversight of development on privately-owned land, limiting development and subdivision of property, and for reserving a large percent of land from development to preserve open space.
Kootenai County is moving away from conservatism and libertarianism in favor of many Democrat and liberal-backed ideals. That's not to say that conservatives and libertarians don't still have a voice in local politics, or that people with the magic (R) on the ballot don't win elections. But as an Idaho native and a life-long citizen of Idaho, I can tell you it is not nearly the "wild west" of being able to own a gun and discharge it whenever you feel like it, not caring about the environment, poor city infrastructure and low wages it has been characterized as.
I would venture to guess that the OP is confusing populism with the modern day liberal democratic party. Many states that are now deemed red states were populist ones.
Also, I have poured over the precinct by precinct results from the most recent election. There were maybe 3 or 4 precincts that went majority dem and not in overwhelming fashion. Their results were neutralized by a couple surrounding precincts. Maybe it's just that I am used to Connecticut type results but I would hardly consider that a thriving democratic party, if that's thriving then I guess the republican party in CT is thriving too lol.
The Coeur d'Alene area is still decidedly Democrat when compared to the conservatism of much of the rest of Idaho, with the exceptions of Latah County and Blaine County.
You left Boise out of your post Boise, especially the inner city is the most Democratic area in the entire state. I have friends from CD'A and they always say Boise is much more liberal than their hometown. Residents of Boise have elected an "out" lesbian to the statehouse and our states first African American female Senator.
Submitted by Kevin Richert on Fri, 11/09/2012 - 10:35am
Many politicos love to scoff at the “Great State of Ada,” a left-leaning hotbed that just doesn’t see the world as the rest of Idaho does.
Yes, in the aggregate, Ada County again skewed to the left of the rest of Idaho. Let's compare some Ada County numbers and statewide results from Tuesday's election:
Seems to me the wealthiest part of Idaho and the college town were the only areas that went blue.
What really surprises me though not being from the area is how eastern washington, especially the Spokane area went red. Typically large population areas will vote blue, thats what makes Boise and the Spokane areas interesting as they're an anomaly.
Except for the past 20 years or so, Idaho has always been moderately conservative and populist.
There are many reasons why this is so, but it's mostly due to the natural conditions of this state; it's high, mountainous, dry, and unpredictable here.
Farmers can never predict whether their next crop will be a boomer or a bust. Loggers never know when a bad forest fire season will wipe out all their logging permits. The tourist industry prays once in the fall for snow to come, and once in the spring for the grasshoppers to die off. Miners never know when the vein will run out. That's the way life is here.
This naturally creates an amount of conservative thinking. After all, conservatives are the ones who keep some seed stock back in a bad year, so there is something to plant for the next year's bumper crop. Boom and bust has ruled this state ever since it has been a state.
At the same time, Idaho veers toward liberalism when the times are good, and toward independent populism when times are hard. Neither swing lasts, and the cycle's average is about 20 years. We tend to be self-correcting, always going back to the centrist right eventually. For most of our history, our representatives have displayed this. Most often, the Governor comes from one party, the House is about equally split, and the Senate has been moderately conservative.
I'm seeing this happen once again in the last elections. The voters thought Luna went to far, and rejected all his programs. The more extreme libertarians are losing their prominence, and we are favoring moderate conservatives once more. I expect the Democrats will eventually gain enough seats to become an effective minority once again, just as they have been for most of the past century.
I also expect to see more and more younger and better educated candidates running for office in the near future. Traditionally, Idaho has been governed by older agrarian folks who never went to college, but they are beginning to thin out.
More than anything, Idahoans are independent and self-sufficient people. They don't like being told what to do by or how to think either party, and when one or the other gets too pushy, they're voted out. Our newcomers always bring their past politics with them, but once Idahoans, they almost always leave those other state's politics behind. Those who don't tend to leave sooner or later.
There is no one better to learn about Idaho from, than BanjoMike. Talk about a native, his family is a multigenerational Idaho ranching family, if I'm remembering correctly. He's smart and measured in his posts and I'm thinking he should run for office.
Another big surprise for the republicans was when Chuck Winder had to trip all over himself backpedaling after coming up with the great mandated transvaginal ultrasound idea. Idahoans weren't so fond of that idea either.
There is no one better to learn about Idaho from, than BanjoMike. Talk about a native, his family is a multigenerational Idaho ranching family, if I'm remembering correctly. He's smart and measured in his posts and I'm thinking he should run for office.
Another big surprise for the republicans was when Chuck Winder had to trip all over himself backpedaling after coming up with the great mandated transvaginal ultrasound idea. Idahoans weren't so fond of that idea either.
Yup. I'm 5th generation. We are now in our 8th as Idahoans in a family. We are not a large family, but most of us stick.
A big part of our ranch was homesteaded before statehood, and our family brand is the oldest still in use in the state. Most of my ancestors lived long lives, so I've been steeped in Idaho's history and it's ways by all my people since birth. It tends to give a person a longer view of things.
I'm not a bit interested in serving in office, though. I have extended family members in both parties who have, or are, but I'm not cut out for political office.
Winder is typical of the folks who come and go. They are always a presence here, but like soap is self-cleansing, so is Idaho. We all get along pretty well here, but we never like being told what is best for us by someone else. In the end, we always decide for ourselves what's best, and we have created plenty of ways- the sunshine law, recall, referendum, and non-political redistricting after census, etc. to allow us to throw the rascals out when they go too far. We tend to apply all those things regularly, too.
I believe the challenges (and rewards) of living here make us all who we are, and newcomers take on our ways if they stay. For whatever reason, Idaho is different than all the states that surround us. Idaho, unlike the others, has a way of handing out the good and the bad in greater amounts of both in every aspect of life.
I've seen it all happen time after time, and it's one of the things that makes me a very proud Idahoan.
Sounds like Idaho has some thinkers as opposed to followers
Quote:
Originally Posted by banjomike
Except for the past 20 years or so, Idaho has always been moderately conservative and populist.
At the same time, Idaho veers toward liberalism when the times are good, and toward independent populism when times are hard. Neither swing lasts, and the cycle's average is about 20 years. We tend to be self-correcting, always going back to the centrist right eventually. For most of our history, our representatives have displayed this. Most often, the Governor comes from one party, the House is about equally split, and the Senate has been moderately conservative.
More than anything, Idahoans are independent and self-sufficient people. They don't like being told what to do by or how to think either party, and when one or the other gets too pushy, they're voted out. Our newcomers always bring their past politics with them, but once Idahoans, they almost always leave those other state's politics behind. Those who don't tend to leave sooner or later.
Banjo, that is really good news to hear. It's always bothered me that there are large groups of people that assume if Republicans say it, it's gospel, or if Democrats say it, it's the Holy Grail. It's always appeared to me unreasonable to assume anything and everything proposed by either side is absolute bunk to the other side.
Guess that's why we have such an idiotic Congress.
Hope, Lord willing, when we get to Idaho, there are still plenty of thinkers there. Thinking allows people to modify their opinions based on facts. Lends a whole new meaning to the term "free." No one is free if they feel they have to follow whatever position is postulated by their own political party.
Thanks for your many thoughtful, insightful posts.
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Boise, especially the inner city is the most Democratic area in the entire state. I have friends from CD'A and they always say Boise is much more liberal than their hometown. Residents of Boise have elected an "out" lesbian to the statehouse and our states first African American female Senator. 
Huh?
Sounds like Idaho has some thinkers as opposed to followers
