"I'm from Idaho and he is being railroaded," the gentleman said. "What about the Democrats? What about all the things they have done? They have an openly gay member of Congress. How come nobody says anything about that?"

After the lunch, it occurred to me that the storm clouds are gathering over the Gem State, which competes with Utah each election cycle for the title of "Most Republican State in the Nation." If those clouds burst, the GOP may get soaked.

A recent poll showed that 55 percent of Idahoans believe Craig should resign from the U.S. Senate after revelations that he entered a guilty plea to disorderly conduct charges related to a police sex sting in a men's rest room at the Minneapolis airport. My uninvited luncheon companion obviously is of the minority opinion in Idaho, but you should have seen his eyes, his animated hands and his pure, unadulterated anger at the injustice imposed on his beloved senator.

That intensity among the still-sizeable Craig camp, coupled with Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's encouraging words that Craig should fight to overturn the guilty plea, last week had Craig second-guessing his earlier decision to resign at the end of this month.

The GOP lost its majorities in both houses of Congress last year due, in part, to the public release of inappropriately suggestive e-mails sent to young male pages by Republican Rep. Mark Foley and the ho-hum response to that scandal by Foley's Republican comrades.

The Republicans already stand a good chance of losing more ground in the Senate, since 22 of the 34 seats in play next year currently are held by the GOP. One state that was impossible for the Republicans to lose was Idaho - until now.

Here's a Utah example of how one office-holder's personal bad judgment created a tsunami for the other political party:

In 1976, the Utah Democratic Party was doing quite well. It held both congressional seats, one of the two Senate seats, controlled both houses of the state Legislature and was waving a fond farewell to popular Gov. Calvin L. Rampton, who was retiring after an unprecedented three terms.

Then one fateful night, Democratic Congressman Alan Howe was arrested for soliciting sex from two female decoy prostitutes in Salt Lake City's red-light district. Howe vigorously denied the allegations, fought the charges in court and rejected pleas from fellow Democrats to resign. He eventually was convicted of the misdemeanor charges, but the drama dominated headlines for months leading up to the November election.

Howe, whose re-election before the arrest had been a foregone conclusion, lost to little-known Republican Dan Marriott, who held the seat for the next eight years. But that wasn't all. Three-term Democratic Sen. Ted Moss, who had gained national acclaim for helping create national parks and for his consumer-protection legislation, also lost to a little-known politician named Orrin Hatch. Moss always blamed his defeat on Howe.

The Democrats' grip on power in Utah continued to crumble over the next few years, and while there were many other factors involved, one person's mistake undoubtedly helped speed the trend toward Republican domination.