Jana Kemp is one of those politicians the Idaho GOP hardliners call a RINO — a "Republican In Name Only."

Kemp doesn't even call herself a Republican these days. The former one-term legislator is running for governor as an independent.

When a moderate such as Kemp decides she is better off as an independent, I think that says something about the direction and the orthodoxy of the Idaho Republican Party.

Kemp served only two years in the Idaho House of Representatives, from 2004 to 2006, but that was enough time to demonstrate her independent streak within a generally conservative 57-member GOP caucus. She was one of just five House Republicans to oppose a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage — a popular issue with the hardliners. When then-Gov. Jim Risch railroaded an ill-conceived plan to shift public school funding from the property tax to the sales tax, Kemp was one of only 11 House Republicans to vote no.

These votes may have rankled some of her House GOP colleagues, but they put Kemp in line with her moderate legislative district, which includes Garden City and Northwest Boise. Indeed, Kemp may have been too Republican for her district; she lost in November 2006 to Democrat Les Bock, who now serves in the state Senate.

With apologies to Han Solo, let's talk about the odds. One legislative term, and one unsuccessful re-election bid, doesn't bode well for a run for statewide office. Kemp is a long shot candidate, and acknowledges as much. In an interview with Betsy Russell of the Spokane Spokesman-Review, she likens her campaign to Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, a 50-1 shot, and the Fiesta Bowl-winning Boise State Broncos.

She's a long shot, and as veteran political observer Randy Stapilus accurately notes, long shots seldom win. That's why they're long shots.

But Kemp's odds aren't any worse running as an independent. She avoids a GOP primary that would be unwinnable — whether or not Gov. Butch Otter seeks re-election, and whether or not GOP hardliners prevail in their efforts to establish a "RINO-proof" closed party primary. It also allows her to take her promise of "collaborative problem-solving leadership" to a statewide general election audience.

Running as an independent is an unorthodox strategy, but it isn't a foolish one. And it is, ultimately, the result of just one politician's election calculus.

Beyond the niceties about collaboration and governing in the best interests of all Idahoans, let's connect a few dots.

Kemp, a former Republican office-holder, has decided she is better off leaving the party to strike out her own. In the inevitable Twitterization of Idaho elections, Kemp's Twitter page goes by the handle "TheresAChoice."

By running as an independent — and listing education, "entrepreneurial economic development" and sustainable energy as her priorities — Kemp at least implies that those platforms don't fit under the current GOP tent. She implies that the Republican Party is squeezing out moderates who take middle-of-the-road positions.

If she can convince some independent-minded Idahoans to think likewise, this could be troubling for the GOP.

More reading from Jared Hopkins at The Times-News in Twin Falls, who broke the Kemp story; from Jill Kuraitis at NewWest.Net; and from Adam Graham, who ran for a legislative seat in Kemp's district in the 2004 GOP legislative primary.

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