Jim Messina says one of the secrets of re-electing President Obama was to learn from success in 2008, then forget it.

"I studied every campaign for the last 60 years, and the ones that tried to run a re-elect like the first one ended up losing," Messina told Slate's John Dickerson.

"If we'd just slapped 'Hope' on a bumper sticker this time, it wouldn't have worked."

Three years before Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna and Gov. Butch Otter pushed "Students Come First" through the Legislature, Otter warned Luna that such changes required buy-in from teachers, says Otter's former top education aide.

Clete Edmunson was Otter's point man on education at the Legislature in 2008 and 2009. Earlier, he was elected as a Republican to three House terms before joining Otter's staff in 2007.

In a Nov. 12 letter released Friday as an "Open Letter to the Governor," Tea Party Boise President Chad Inman quotes Gov. Butch Otter's own words in arguing against a state-run exchange under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.

First District Republican Rep. Raul Labrador is scheduled for his fourth appearance on the grandaddy of Sunday talk shows, "Meet the Press," at 8 a.m. MST Sunday on NBC (Channel 7 in the Treasure Valley).

Labrador first appeared in January 2011, as a representative of the historic GOP freshman class. He's been back twice since.

First District GOP Rep. Raul Labrador was the first member of Congress to call for Attorney General Eric Holder's resignation in 2011 and says there's a new reason for him to go -- his handling of the Petraeus inquiry.

"Holder should have resigned a long time ago," Labrador said in a Wednesday Capitol Hill news conference. "Once again, it shows the incompetence or the complete neglect and dereliction of duty in Eric Holder's administration."

Controversial political consultant and lobbyist John Foster says Education Voters of Idaho won't appeal 4th District Judge Mike Wetherell's order that the group disclose its contributors to Secretary of State Ben Ysusra.

"We want to focus on promoting and assisting with education reform, not fighting with the Secretary of State," Foster told me Thursday.

Republican Congressman Raul Labrador said Wednesday that Mitt Romney’s unpopularity among Hispanics was key to his defeat and that Republicans must press for immigration reform or give up on electing a GOP president.

“We are never going to be a majority party if we don’t figure out a way to reach out to the Hispanic community,” said Labrador, a native of Puerto Rico re-elected to his second term. “So we have to find a conservative consensus on immigration.”

Credit Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna seeing the sunny side.

A month before the election, Luna cast his "Students Come First" laws in historic proportions.

I've been invited to participate on a panel sponsored by the new public policy journal at Boise State,
"The Blue Review."

The free event is Tuesday at Boise State's Center on Main in Boise, 1020 Main Street, with appetizers at 6:30 p.m. and the discussion at 7 p.m.

The lineup:

David Adler of the Andrus Center for Public Policy at BSU.

Justin Vaughn, BSU political scientist

George Prentice of Boise Weekly, where the Blue Review's print edition is distributed.

Molly Messick of StateImpact Idaho and Boise State Radio.

Perhaps it's not a surprise for a guy played in the NFL despite his small stature, but Jimmy Farris sure shows some pluck — or maybe self-flagellation — when he says he's running for Congress again after losing by more than 102,000 votes.

“I am committed to devoting myself to public service and to giving the First District the representation it deserves," Farris said in a news release. "Our next journey starts today. We are headed full steam ahead towards a victory in 2014.”