So many of you may remember my blog from this spring, titled – duh – “Fun With Math,” where I accurately predicted Barack Obama’s win over Hillary Clinton about a month and a half before the primary contest ended, using strict voting and polling trends as my guide.

Now that the final presidential debate is over and John McCain and Barack Obama have hit the home stretch in stride, the last 19 days of the race will depend exclusively on math.  This may sound uninteresting, but in some way, the math of each candidate’s advertising budgets, the math of Electoral College votes and the math of poll trends will determine who is the next president of the United States of America.

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I’m writing this because after seeing John McCain pick a person who boasts the same degree as I do (B.S. journalism from the University of Idaho with a political science focus/minor), I have realized that I too may be qualified to be in the White House.  After all, I boast a White House-quality degree, as well as the following executive experience:

 1.       I have to make sure our electric bill is paid on time, every single month, 

 2.       When I go shopping, I make sure I only buy things that are either a good deal or on sale, which requires math and a final executive decision,

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After two long weeks of speaking with Idaho voters, watching every night of convention coverage religiously and joining hundreds of voters at some of Idaho’s biggest acceptance speech watch parties, it is apparent there is a clear enthusiasm gap between the two parties, even in Idaho.

The first party I attended was in Boise at the Basque Centre, a popular convention hall in downtown Boise, where I joined more than 300 Democrats to watch Obama deliver his acceptance speech.  The crowd was surprisingly young, boasting impressive numbers of high school and college-aged voters. 

The second party was at the Kenworthy Theatre in Moscow, Idaho, where I sat with 90 Republicans and watched McCain’s acceptance speech.  This crowd was noticeably less enthusiastic about McCain’s speech and was also less diverse. 

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George W. Bush’s approval rating in Idaho, a state where he won 69-30 percent over John Kerry just three years ago, has now plummeted to a dismal 43 percent, according to a Research 2000 poll taken July 28-30.  After parsing the down-poll numbers, it appears that Idaho, once one of Bush’s most loyal states, is now a complete toss-up at all levels.  John McCain is netting only 53 percent of the state’s support, and leading GOP Senate candidate Jim Risch garners only 42 percent.

At the Senate level, Lt. Gov. Jim Risch is leading LaRocco 42-32, with Independent Rex Rammell pulling 5 percent of the vote and a stunning 17 percent undecided.  In a state that usually provides Republican candidates 30-40 point win margins, the undecided vote and the 4.5 percent margin of error means nothing is a safe bet for Idaho’s red-collar politicians.

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Since the race for the White House began, the topic of race has been one of the most thoroughly reported and virtually exhausted issues, as it relates to politics, politicians, geography and voting trends.

But in retrospect, another interesting and possibly alarming correlation has emerged, but it can only be seen after some numbers are crunched.

In state after state, region after region, regardless of almost everything that has happened throughout this race, Barack Obama has received the lowest percent of the white vote in states with the largest black populations, while reflectively he has received the highest percent of the white vote in states with little to no black population.

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As the Rocky Mountain States are largely dominated by the Republican Party, a rise of ambitious Democrats are looking to build a network of support across borders to increase their presence in the region and ultimately convert some states from deep red to purple or even blue.

Montana was the first to “go” purple.  As a traditionally conservative state, they now have two Democratic Senators, Max Baucus and John Tester, and Democratic Governor Brian Schweitzer, who currently has an approval rating around 70 percent.

Tester, a popular junior Senator, recently announced his backing of Larry LaRocco in a fundraising email.

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Things just don’t seem to be looking up for Idaho’s Republican Party and their leading Senate candidate, Lieutenant Governor Jim Risch.

First, there was Obamamania. Idaho’s depressed Democrats rallied to the first Democratic presidential candidate to visit the state in decades, giving him a stunning victory on Super Tuesday and continuing to turn out high volumes of volunteers and huge events, most popping at the seams.

Then Risch had to fight off seven other Republican candidates seeking to nab the nomination, although he succeeded and won the nomination with 65 percent of the vote.

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Idaho’s colleges and universities are infamous for their political activity…or lack thereof. In fact, most student groups from Idaho’s biggest universities are almost entirely defunct; they feature stale websites with expired leaders, almost no political content and no events for the foreseeable future.

That is, until 2008.

Prior to this heated election year, Idaho’s student political groups have been disorganized, lazy or entirely nonexistent. But a combination of factors have led to an increased awareness in politics among Idaho’s usually dormant youth, and it just might be enough to change the composition of Idaho’s voting blocs.

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The issue of the environment is one of the most important, and most overlooked, issues in the political scene.  This year, climate change has taken a front seat in the environment debate, but the environment still registers in single digits when voters are asked what their number one voting issue is in the United States.  This is part 1 of a two-part series about Idaho's natural environment and what some people are doing about it.

Click here to watch it!

Idaho held its highly-publicized primary last night with John McCain and Barack Obama winning the Republican and Democratic primaries, respectively. However, an interesting side story has begun to unfold with most of the polling in the Mountain States completed.

The underlying headline after Idaho’s primary was that Representative Ron Paul finished with a stunning 25 percent of the vote. He also scored that back on Super Tuesday (Feb 5) at Montana’s Republican Caucus, actually placing ahead of Senator John McCain (though the state was won by former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney). Rep. Paul also outvoted Sen. McCain in Nevada despite, again, falling to Romney. In Colorado, Wyoming and Utah, Paul ran competitively behind the two. 

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