Larry Craig's Woes Likely Won't Cost GOP in Idaho

— -- Sen. John McCain has all but a lock on the reliably Republican state of Idaho -- which hasn't favored a Democratic presidential contender since President Lyndon B. Johnson eeked out a one-percent victory over Republican Barry Goldwater in 1964.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., got some R&R at his wife's ski getaway in posh Sun Valley but he wasn't there to contest the state in the tight 2004 election.

The lack of a competitive presidential landscape may make the most interesting race in the state the one to replace scandal-plagued Sen. Larry Craig.

But Craig, who leaves the Senate amidst an effort to clear his name related to a sex-sting operation in the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport, may have hurt the Republican party's reputation nationally, does not appear to have done much damage to the Idaho GOP.

CQPolitics.com rates the Senate race between Lt. Gov. Jim Risch and former Democratic Rep. Larry LaRocco as "safe Republican".