BOISE -- The race for Idaho governor took a turn in the national spotlight.
Gubernatorial candidate Rex Rammell was featured on Friday's MSNBC's Hardball with Chis Matthews. Last week he was on ABC's "Nightline".
Rammell strongly opposes President Obama and his health care reform and says he supports the militia movement -- and its use of force if it comes down to that. "In fact most people don't know this, but the Idaho State Constitution requires that we have a state militia," said Rammell. "And every able body male between the ages of eighteen and 45 must be enrolled."
Rammell said during an interview on ABC's Nightline, the U.S. is getting more and more enemies both foreign and domestic.
He says state sovereignty has been lost due of the health care bill -- which he calls intrusive on individual rights.
He supports state militias -- which is spelled out in article 14 of the Idaho State Constitution.
On MSNBC's "Hardball" he was labeled as the "Militia Man." "That's not fair. I support the state militia, but I'm not part of it," said Rammell.
Late last month members of the "North Idaho Lightfoot Militia" invited Rammell to northern Idaho for training. The Melitia told ABC reporters they have more than a 100 members living near the Canadian border. "They invited me to go up and see what they did. And they had a little practice course setup. They shot their rifles," Rammell described.
Rammell says, bottom line, militia groups are a good idea in what he calls a volatile point in our nation's history. "Thomas Jefferson said something I think is very appropriate for our day. He said when injustice becomes the law, resistance becomes our duty," said Rammell on Hardball. However, Rammell says he doesn't support violence in militia groups. For instance -- nine people were recently arrested in Michigan -- charged with plotting to kill police officers. He says that's not what militia groups are about.
Rammell says he would volunteer to join the Idaho militia if asked by the state -- even though he's older than 45.
Obama hunting tags
Last August Rammell made national headlines with a comment about hunting the president. It happened at an event in which the wolf hunt was being discussed. Someone yelled out "Obama Tags" and Rammell said, "we'd buy some of those."
"The only fallout from the Obama tags issue was I got a lot of hate mail from liberals all over the United States," said Rammell "the Secret Service called me wanting to know If I was serious. I told them no. It wasn't even my joke. It was an Idaho grandmother's joke."
State leaders asked Rammell to apologize for the joke, but he refused.
Primary Election
The May Primary is about six and a half weeks away and the race for governor is a crowded one. Rammell will square off against five other Republicans in the primary. That includes current governor "Butch" Otter who is running for re-election.
Two Democrats, Keith Allred and Lee Chaney Sr. will battle it out in the primary.
Two independents and a Libertarian are also in the race; 11 names in all.
