I just got a call from the robotic twin of 'ole Mittens Romney on behalf of our erstwhile gravity-hating congressmoron Bill Sali(ID-1).  It's the first contact in over a month and came from some committee, not the campaign.  I was just thinking Sali must be near broke due to the lack of contact.

The first thing that jumped out is how respectful the call was: focused on making Sali look good more than making his opponent look bad.  I think this is significant because it shows a play for the middle - which is actually the correct move (inconceivable) in Idaho's current climate.  More importantly, Sali has typically gone full-bore to the fringe right and this isn't his style at all.  Both the tone of the message and the messanger were sort of stunning.

Another thing, it shows is that the republicans are putting money into red Idaho as they lament being cash-strapped and pressed elsewhere in the country.  This speaks to just how close this race really is.  Sali isn't popular - last election cycle the GOP flew in Cheney at the last minute (at taxpayer expense) and put up extra cash to push him over the top.  He's mostly on his own this time against a well funded democrat after some pretty serious stupid political moves beyond simple breathtaking bufoonery.

This is more evidence Romney is making a play to be standard bearer of the GOP's more rational wing.  IMO this is also a sign Palin may go down with the McCain ship.  The amazing part is Sali the clown linking with Romney.  The climb down from negative is rather unexpected.  If anything is going to save him it will be rational stuff like this (dammit dammit dammit!).  Hopefully someone smart didn't take over, and this is an isolated incident!

This race has inched from Solid GOP to Likely GOP to Leans GOP to Tossup leaning Dem and I'm not sure Greg even acknowledges this seat is in play (dammit again!) ... thankfully Kos sometimes shows us some love.  It's a week old, but check out his writeup of the race with some awesome quotes that sum up how other republicans view Sali (make sure to check out the "bunny ears" story near the end - Sali's an idiot!).  Sadly, even Kos is a skeptic.

We're on the edge of our seats and I think good things are coming from this race.  If the yard signs are any indicator we win hands down they are 5:1 easy; while most folks I talk to refer to him as "that guy with those hunting commercials? Yeah I like him!" not "Isn't he the democrat?!?".  Good stuff.