One of the two Republicans challenging freshman Idaho Democratic Rep. Walt Minnick is ending his 2010 campaign in the state's 1st District.

State Rep. Ken Roberts said in a statement Tuesday that he was withdrawing "with great reluctance" because of an unspecified and "unexpected health issue that has affected my candidacy and hampered my ability to make this run."

"I feel that it is my responsibility to my family to step out of the race at this time and concentrate on my health," Roberts said.

The anti-tax group Club for Growth released their 2009 "RePork Card" rating House members' efforts to rein in public spending, and by the Club's standards, the Democrats failed miserably.

The one exception: Idaho freshman Rep. Walt Minnick, who along with 21 Republicans earned a perfect 100 percent score from the Club. That means he voted for all 68 amendments proposed in the House to strip out earmarked spending projects, or "pork," from the 12 annual spending bills. The average Democratic score, in contrast, was 3 percent, with a median of zero.

Republicans averaged 57 percent, with a median score of 69 percent.

The next-highest scores for Democrats were Tennessee Rep. Jim Cooper with 97 percent and Rep. Bobby Bright of Alabama with 61 percent.

Duncan Hunter, a retired Republican who once chaired the Armed Services Committee, has decided that Iraq War veterans are the perfect candidates to revive the Republican Party in 2010.

Hunter -- a Vietnam War vet who briefly sought the 2008 Republican presidential nomination -- is already backing two such candidates as they launch challenges to two of the more junior members of the House Democratic majority: Jesse Kelly, who wants to take on two-term incumbent Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona's 8th District, and Vaughn Ward, whose target in Idaho's 1st District is freshman Democrat Walt Minnick.

Hunter will be attending a series of brunches, receptions and a golf outing in Tucson this weekend with Kelly, who said Hunter is a big attraction in conservative circles in his district in Arizona's southeastern corner. "He did very well in early presidential polls down here," Kelly noted, referring to Hunter's 2008 bid.

During much of his House career, Hunter represented a California district that stretched from San Diego east to the border of Kelly's home state of Arizona, though for the past decade the 52nd District has been confined to San Diego County in California's southwest corner.

In a sign of Republican concern over Sen. Richard Burr's re-election chances, Burr's friend and Senate colleague, John McCain, is now running Google ads pumping the North Carolina freshman.

As first spotted by the Charlotte News and Observer, a Google search of "Richard Burr" brings up a sponsored link from McCain's Country First political action committee -- "Richard Burr NC Senator," it reads, followed by "Join John McCain's Country First to Support Candidates like Burr!"

The link leads to the PAC's Supported Candidates page.