Liberal Congressman Mike Simpson? Really?

President Obama almost got a third of the votes in Mike Simpson's congressional district last year, down from a whopping 37% against McCain four years earlier. ID-02, like ID-01, is one red hellhole! Mike Simpson has been the congressman there since being elected in 1998. Before that, he was Speaker of the Idaho House of Representatives. Since being elected, Simpson's lowest share of the vote was last year (65.1%, not quite two to one). He's had over 70% three times. He gets challenged by extremists from time to time but always beats them to a pulp without breaking a sweat. This time is different. As we mentioned in July, the Club For Growth has decided Simpson isn't conservative enough. His career-long ProgressivePunch crucial vote score is 3.85. By way of comparison, Paul Ryan's score is 4.22; Louie Gohmert's is 5.95; and Tim Huelskamp, who the Koch brothers are pushing to be the next Speaker, has a 9.70. Michelle Bachmann, Queen of the Tea Party, has a 4.08.

Now watch the video up top. The Club for Growth/teabagger candidate claims Simpson is a "liberal." Hey, at least they didn't call him a communist, or even a socialist. But it's still early in the campaign. A friend of mine driving up the 15 Freeway Thursday told me he heard the ad twice between Pocatello and Idaho Falls. It's also blasting in Boise. Idaho voters are going to be pretty confused-- unless they understand they're part of a strategy by extremists to weaken John Boehner and replace him as Speaker with a radical... like Koch puppet Huelskamp.

Huelskamp (KS) is the most conservative member of this list. He has never shied away from a fight with the party establishment-- for example, he is one of the few GOP members who believe that shutting down the government is the best strategy for combating the Affordable Care Act.

At an August town hall meeting, Huelskamp stated, “I told the speaker of the House, Mr. Boehner, I don’t work for you,” claiming that Boehner had told him how to vote on a variety of issues, and accusing the GOP leadership of not being “aggressive” enough. Needless to say, Huelskamp could attract Tea Party Republicans, but he may face a problem with the rest of his party, which he believes is composed of “weak-kneed Republicans.”