Idaho’s last Democratic superdelegate to endorse a presidential candidate has announced his support for Sen. Barack Obama.

Keith Roark, the Idaho Democratic Party’s chairman, announced on Monday that he is backing Obama because he feels the Illinois senator will make a better president, run better against the Republican’s presumptive nominee, Sen. John McCain, and run a stronger campaign in Idaho.

Superdelegates are not bound by primary and caucus votes and help pick party nominees. With this year’s tight race between Obama and Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, superdelegates are likely to play a strong role in choosing the nominee.

Idaho has five superdelegates; four are backing Obama and the fifth will be chosen at the Democrats’ state convention in mid-June.

Thirteen candidates are running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Idaho Sen. Larry Craig, as absentee voters have begun marking their ballots for the state’s May 27 primary.

Eight Republicans, two Democrats, two independents and a Libertarian are vying for the chance to replace Craig.

Lt. Governor Jim Risch, who served as governor for seven months when Dirk Kempthorne was named Interior Secretary, is considered the front-runner in the Republican primary - his campaign co-chairs are Senator Mike Crapo and former Governor Phil Batt, and he has endorsements from the state GOP party chairman and governor.

Other Republican candidates are Post falls businessman Richard Phenneger; Wilder real-estate broker and Army Reserve colonel Scott Syme; former Idaho National Lab attorney Fred Adams; McCall electrical engineer Neal Thompson; Sweet machinist Brian Hefner; Las Vegas civil engineer Bill Hunter, who recently moved back to his family home in southeastern Idaho; and California real estate broker who has never been to Idaho. By law, Senate candidates are required only to reside in the state on the date of the November election.

On the Democratic ticket, former two-term Congressman Larry LaRocco will square off in the primary against Fort Hall tribal court advocate David Archuleta.

Also running are Libertarian Kent Marmon, and independents former elk rancher Rex Rammell and Pro-Life, whose name was legally changed from Marvin Richardson.

The executive director of the Idaho Water Users Association says the group is against a federal bill to designate portions of the Snake River as “wild and scenic” because it could harm historic water rights.

Norm Semanko says the group is dead-set against any federal protection designation for a 42-mile stretch of the Snake River below Jackson dam. That portion of the Snake River flows mostly in western Wyoming before reaching Palisades Reservoir in eastern Idaho.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday approved a bill to designate 387 miles of the Snake River as “wild and scenic,” which affords protection of parts of the river and its immediate environment.

The bill now goes to the full Senate.

With the 2008 legislative session freeze on fundraising behind her, Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire raised twice as much money as GOP challenger Dino Rossi in April.

According to figures provided by the respective campaigns, the Democratic governor raised about $1.3 million in April, while Rossi’s campaign brought in about $625,000 during the same period.

Combined with previously reported contributions, Gregoire has raised about $6 million and has $3.8 million in cash on hand. Rossi’s totals were about $4.4 million raised and about $3 million on hand. Disclosure reports show that Rossi has spent $1.2 million but spending in April was not included.

Detailed public disclosure reports are due next week.

(Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

U. S. Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA) has endorsed Sen. Barack Obama, giving the Democratic presidential contender five of Washington’s 17 superdelegates.

Larsen joins fellow Reps. Adam Smith and Brian Baird, Gov. Christine Gregoire, and Democratic National Committee member Pat Notter.

Sen. Hillary Clinton, also has five superdelegates in her corner – Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, Reps. Norm Dicks and Jay Inslee, and King County Executive Ron Sims.

The state’s other seven superdlegates remain undecided. They are Congressman Jim McDermott, former House Speaker Tom Foley, State Democratic Party Chairman Dwight Pelz , Vice Chairwoman Eileen Macoll, and Democratic National Committee members Ed Cote, Sharon Mast, and David McDonald.

Legislation that expands the borders of Idaho’s Minidoka Interment National Monument is now law.

President Bush on Thursday signed into law a larger public lands bill that includes the Minidoka measure, as well as the bill to create Washington’s Wild Sky Wilderness.

Minidoka was one of 10 detention camps in the West and Arkansas that the federal government operated between 1942 and 1946. The camps held thousands of West Coast residents who were deemed a security risk because they had at least 1/16th Japanese ancestry.

The measure, authored by Idaho Sens. Mike Crapo and Larry Craig and Rep. Mike Simpson, allows the Minidoka monument to stretch its borders through a series of acquisitions of adjacent public and private land. Backers of the project have identified more than 200 acres to add, an amount that would more than triple the monument’s size.

The legislation also clears the way to allow private groups to raise money for the expansion and pay to refurbish the camp and rebuild a block of barracks.

President Bush on Thursday signed into law a bill to establish the first new wilderness area in Washington state since 1984.

The House gave final approval to the Wild Sky Wilderness bill last month. It designates 167 square miles in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest north of Seattle as federal wilderness, the government’s highest level of protection.

Wild Sky, first introduced in 2002, covers approximately 106,000 acres of low-elevation forest on the west slope of the Cascades. The wilderness designation will block development and other economic activity in a sprawling area north of U.S. Highway 2 that includes habitat for bears, bald eagles and other wildlife, as well as streams, hiking trails and other recreation.

The bill signed on Thursday also designates a site on Bainbridge Island, where hundreds of Japanese-Americans were forced from their homes on the way to internment camps during World War II as a national historic site.

(AP)

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Wednesday gave approval to the Owyhee Initiative, federal legislation sponsored by Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo to settle land management issues and create new wilderness in Southwest Idaho.

The measure creates 517,000 acres of new wilderness and releases 199,000 acres of wilderness study areas in some of Idaho’s most rugged and scenic back country. It also provides certainty for continued ranching and economic activity, and ensures continued access for back country users and preservation for Native American cultural resources in the area through local management agreements.

Wilderness advocates, ranching representatives and Senators testified favorably about the initiative during a hearing last month. Its provisions were hammered out through an eight-year effort in Idaho begun by the Owyhee County Commissioners, who requested that Crapo assist with the collaborative process.

The legislation passed on a voice vote, and will likely be included in a package of other land management bills that will be considered together by the full Senate as early as next month.