There's a lot on the ballot in this spring's primary election, though the marquee race clearly is the vigorous GOP contest between two rising young Republicans for a chance to challenge 1st District Democratic Rep. Walt Minnick in the 1st Congressional District. Every statewide elected office is up for a vote, as are three of the four seats in the state's congressional delegation and every seat in the state Legislature, plus county races across the state. In my Handle Extra column yesterday, I took a quick look at the contested primary races this year for U.S. Senate, lieutenant governor and state controller, including the candidacy of former Coeur d'Alene restaurant owner Tom Sullivan in the Democratic primary for Senate and how state Controller Donna Jones' GOP primary challenger, log home company owner Todd Hatfield, is concerned about the size of state timber sales and whether they're pushing out smaller firms from bidding; next week's column will examine contested North Idaho legislative races, the following week's the Supreme Court race, and the week after, the primary contests for governor. You can read yesterday's column here.

Also this weekend, Idaho Statesman reporter Rocky Barker looked into claims being raised by two Democratic bloggers about Minnick's role in Watergate back when he was a Nixon White House aide; you can read the story here, which largely lays to rest any aspersions, in part by finding and interviewing key players from the Watergate days. And the Statesman published its extensive voter guide, with information on candidates for federal, state and Ada County races including the area's legislative districts; you can see it here.

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