Idaho's Republican Party has scheduled its first-ever presidential straw poll in Boise on Jan. 6, and is hoping to attract the candidates to the Gem State to woo Idaho Republicans. "This is a non-binding straw poll, but this is really an effort to bring the presidential candidates out to Idaho to address our issues," said party Executive Director Jonathan Parker, "to get to know Idahoans, and hopefully plant some seeds for the March 6th caucuses to determine to which candidate Idaho will send its 32 delegates." He noted that Idaho's delegate count to the national GOP nominating convention is "more than Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada."

GOP presidential candidates will get an opportunity to address the crowd at the straw poll, and also to have booths in a lobby area outside to "hand out material and basically to woo our voters for the straw poll," Parker said. The event will take place at the Riverside Hotel in Boise; any Idaho resident who wants to be a registered Republican can buy a $30 ticket and participate. "They will just need to contact state party headquarters to reserve their ticket ahead of time, or they can just pay at the door," Parker said. "People that show up, purchase a ticket, we'll be registering them as a Republican as well." You can read my full story here at spokesman.com.