More than 40 percent of the races for the Idaho Legislature will be uncontested in November, and better than half of the county commission candidates statewide will be elected without opposition.

Shoot, school board elections are so rare in this state that they're usually called off before they happen because there's only one candidate.

What is it about Idahoans' revulsion to running for public office?

The usual explanations are the power of incumbency and the fact that one party - the Republicans - is so dominant in Idaho that it discourages Democrats from running.

But I'm not so sure. I think it has more to do with the nature of Idahoans.

Look, we're not a flashy people, and we don't especially like to get noticed. That's why you can walk into any church in south-central Idaho this morning and find two-thirds of the congregation sitting in the back three rows of pews.

It's one thing to complain about the government in the company of a bunch of your friends while drinking coffee at the Curry Café. It's quite another to declare for office and start telling those same fellas what to do.

In my fifth-grade class at St. Anthony School in Pocatello, Sister Mary Margaret announced one day that we would be electing class officers the next day and that anyone interested in running should let her know.

Nobody did, so the following morning she walked up and down the rows of desks asking students to run. Every single kid flatly refused.

So the class president ended up being the pet gecko, Justine, that Sister kept in a cage in the corner of the room.

When my dad was farming in Arbon Valley south of Pocatello, one of the local farmers, Sherm Saunders, announced he was running for county commission. Sherm was an OK guy, but his neighbors didn't think much of his presumption. He won on Election Day, but he only got a single vote in the Arbon precinct: His own. And Sherm was married.

Basically, we're not comfortable with people whom we've known for years acting as if they're smarter than we are.

In some small counties in eastern Idaho, this attitude at one time led to an informal system for choosing commissioners, legislators, city council members and mayors: Basically, everybody took turns.

In Caribou County, for example, three people served as county treasurer over a 30-year period. And not one of them was elected to consecutive terms.

So that's why it's so hard for a newcomer to politics to get elected in Idaho. We already know what the incumbent's flaws are; why break in a whole new set of vices?

Steve Crump may be reached at 735-3223 or scrump@magicvalley.com.