Bo Gritz, the former Green Beret and Populist Party candidate for president, says he's thinking about running for governor of Idaho.
Gritz, who got 10,281 Idaho votes in the Nov. 3 general election, said he rented a home in Boise in October, although he won't say exactly where.He's looking for a big-acre spread for a permanent home, he said in an interview from his Sandy Valley, Nev., home. His real estate reconnaissance missions have centered on the St. Anthony area in eastern Idaho, not far from the Grand Teton Mountains along the Idaho-Wyoming border.
But he hasn't ruled out "beautiful" Priest Lake, he said. If he decides against running for governor of Idaho, Gritz said he'll settle in Idaho to open an "outback" camp for boys, teaching self-sufficiency and possibly helping them meet Eagle Scout requirements.
He said he was concerned about the state of the nation, particularly the erosion of constitutional rights.
"I'm very serious about running for it if it looks like our rights are going to be further eroded," Gritz said.
"I'll probably throw my hat in the ring for Idaho, hoping Idaho might be a state where people will wake up and realize we have to make a stand somewhere."
Gov. Cecil Andrus has two years left in his current term, but has announced he will not run for re-election after four terms.
Gritz, 53, is a retired lieutenant colonel in the Army Special Forces who gained national fame as the inspiration for the "Rambo" and "Missing in Action" movies.
He gained a lot of attention in Idaho when he successfully negotiated an end to a standoff near Naples in northern Idaho, where Randy Weaver and others held off an army of federal officers.
Weaver also is a former Green Beret and Gritz was able to talk him into giving up peacefully after getting a promise that prominent defense attorney Gerry Spence, Jackson, Wyo., would represent him.
He campaigned for president as a strict constitutionalist, with the belief that the income tax is evil and the CIA is run by drug dealers. He's big on private property rights and less government.
A pocket of counties in eastern Idaho gave Gritz his best support. Bonneville County gave him 1,433 votes. He also got 886 in Bingham and 861 in Bannock.
"I'll give Andrus some competition," Gritz said, apparently unaware that the governor is not running.
"I think Andrus is a good man but a product of the political machinery."
Scott Peyron, Andrus' press secretary, said Friday the governor has no response to Gritz's claims.
"The governor has said repeatedly that he has no plans to seek a fifth term even though he is asked to run almost every day," Peyron said.