Idaho gov. headlines Spokane WA tea party event

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter crossed the border Thursday to headline a tea party event in Spokane, Wash.

Hundreds of people turned out for the rally at the Spokane Convention Center.

Addressing the crowd, the Idaho Republican said, “Folks, you’re proving today that you deserve freedom.”

In Idaho’s capital city of Boise, a tea party crowd that police say numbered at least 1,500 paraded through downtown to the front steps of the Capitol. More than one of those smaller-government activists found it curious that Otter that had accepted a speaking gig at a tea party event in Eastern Washington.

Around Washington state, thousands flocked to rallies organized as part of national tax-day protests united under the banner of the tea party movement.

One of the state’s largest rallies was at the Capitol in Olympia, where people packed the sandstone steps to listen to speeches from talk-radio hosts, conservative think-tank organizers and citizen campaigners. The Washington State Patrol estimated the noontime crowd in Olympia at about 3,000.