Idaho Lt. Gov. Jim Risch to run for Craig’s seat

Idaho Lt. Gov. Jim Risch (R) officially announced Tuesday that he would run for his state’s open Senate seat in 2008, and he enters the race as the favorite to replace disgraced Sen. Larry Craig (R).

Craig announced last week that he would not run for reelection after failing to get a guilty plea overturned in a Minneapolis airport bathroom sex sting.

Risch’s entry sets up a possible rematch with the only Democrat in the race. He defeated former Rep. Larry LaRocco (D), 58 to 39 percent, last year in the lieutenant governor’s race.

Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter (R) and Sen. Mike Crapo (R) both attended as Risch made his announcement in Boise. Crapo will serve as a campaign co-chairman.

Risch first won election as lieutenant governor in 2002 and served seven months as governor after Dirk Kempthorne was appointed U.S. secretary of the Interior in 2006.

LaRocco on Tuesday recapped the first six months of his campaign, which has included his “Working for the Senate” effort, where he goes around the state taking various jobs for a day.

“I have been on a ranch, on a farm, in an office, in the wards of nursing homes, and seen the care given to our elderly,” LaRocco said. “I know we can move Idaho forward in a new direction. I see and feel it every day.”