Could Walt Minnick survive past the 2010 elections?

[JohnnyLongtorso]

Well, he is the most conservative Democrat in the House caucus. If he survives 2010, he might make it a couple more terms, but he has the problem of being 66 years old -- unless you're a crotchety old crank like Roscoe Barlett, you don't tend to stick around in the House when you are a freshman who's that old. I'm also not sure he could generate the personal popularity that Matheson has, since Matheson had the advantage of his name being fairly popular, with his father being a governer in the 80s.

[JohnnyLongtorso]

One thing to note is that the top of the ticket in Idaho 2010 will be the governor's race (Crapo is certainly not going to face a serious challenge, considering he was unopposed last time around), and Butch Otter is not very popular right now. I don't know that he could be beaten (except maybe in the primary), but I doubt he'll be driving Republicans to the polls unless his popularity recovers.