A.J. Balukoff is running for governor again in Idaho. The Boise businessman, a Democrat, challenged Republican Butch Otter in 2014 and lost by 15 percentage points. This year Otter is retiring and several Republicans are positioning themselves for the G-O-P nomination. Balukoff is running against Rep. Paulette Jordan (D-Plummer) for the Democratic nomination.
Balukoff was in Coeur d’Alene last Friday to announce his candidacy. While he was there, we got him win the phone. Balukoff is also a longtime member of the Boise School Board, so we started by asking him about the Idaho education system. He called it “bottom of the barrel.”