William Andrews Clark (left) was one of the original robber barons of the American West, a Montana Copper King, a genuine scoundrel and a United States Senator thanks to the money he spent buying a few state legislators and his ticket into the world's greatest deliberative body. Now - brace yourselves - the Tea Party movement is advocating, you can't make this stuff up, doing away with direct election of U.S. Senators. Even more off the wall, the two top candidates for the GOP nomination for Congress in Idaho's First Congressional district have endorsed the idea as has Idaho's governor. These folks must be drinking something stronger than tea/Marc Johnson, The Johnson Report. More here.

• Why press conferences are fun again/Dennis Mansfield
• Cycling with Social Security/Fort Boise
• Just wondering about legalized drugs/Free In Idaho!
• Butch Otter's hometown capital for a day/Kevin Richert
• Prepare for a walk-back?/Randy Stapilus, Ridenbaugh Press
• Salmon advocates turn their attention to Washington State/Rocky Barker

Question: 85% of you Merry Hucksters rejected the crazy idea spread by some Tea Partiers of repealing the 17th Amendment and allowing state legislators to select the U.S. senators. Yet, Gov. Butch Otter and congressional wannabes Raul Labrador and Vaughn Ward support the idea. Can anyone explain why they do?