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Sanity -> Long Shot? (9/6/2009 6:40:16 AM)
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Look what I found on Drudge this morning: [:)]
quote:
NAMPA, Idaho (AP) - About a block from a street concert in downtown Nampa, Melissa Sue Robinson strolls with purpose into a trendy coffee shop - the unofficial liberal embassy of this sprawling Republican stronghold in southwest Idaho.
Dressed in a cream-colored pantsuit, a political flier clutched in one hand, a soft brown leather purse in the other, she orders a mocha and takes a seat as a group of teenagers stare at her from near the door.
The 58-year-old was born male and still carries the slightly larger-than-an-average-woman build of Charles Staelens Jr., who legally changed his name and underwent surgery in 1998 to become a woman. She also kept his voice.
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This farming and manufacturing town of about 83,000 residents, where a sugar factory and a local hospital are among the biggest employers, doesn't seem to be all that concerned that Robinson previously lived as a man.
But they are scratching their heads that a newcomer, a non-Republican, would run for mayor.
For her part, Robinson says she has been warmly received in Nampa, just 15 miles west of Boise in the sagebrush-ridden high desert.
"Idaho has a bad rap," she says. "I haven't found a person I don't like yet."
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Her job moved her from Seattle last winter to southwest Idaho, where Nampa is the largest city in Canyon County and a Democrat hasn't held an elected seat in local government in more than a decade. Sen. John McCain received a landslide 67 percent of the vote here during the presidential election last year.
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"It doesn't seem like her chances are high - or there at all," said Joseph Shafer, a boutique owners in Nampa. "We're one of the most conservative counties in the state. I think we're one of the most conservative in the country."
(Full article here).
It's an interesting human interest story, these are just a few snippets. Read the whole thing, it's pretty good.
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