"Famous people are welcome, so long as they don't act like famous people," said the longtime owner of one restaurant, who asked not to be named.
When a Kerry staffer phoned the Warm Springs ski resort to give a heads-up that the senator would be arriving, accompanied by a passel of reporters, the staff member was told brusquely that they could expect no special treatment.
Kerry can leave behind his ego, but has little choice about an entourage. He whittled down his staff for the weeklong vacation, which ends Wednesday. And the press corps -- 100 strong at the height of the primary season -- has shrunk to about 16 here. The Secret Service, however, decides for itself how many agents to have on hand.
For now, the detail protecting Kerry is relatively small. But it will grow after Kerry's expected nomination at the Democratic National Convention in July, and it will explode if he becomes president.
Kerry has thus far been granted a fair amount of understanding here, both because his was a semifamiliar face before the campaign and because the area is one of just a handful of places that tends to vote Democratic in this overwhelmingly Republican state.
Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, has kept a home in Ketchum since 1966 -- she and her late husband, Sen. John Heinz (R-Pa.), had a 15th-century Scottish barn shipped to Idaho and remodeled. The house, one of five she and Kerry own, is worth $4.9 million, and the two have visited frequently since they married in 1995.
Teresa Kerry's connection to the area is especially strong. She gave $750,000 to help overhaul emergency medical services in the area, funded a Latino voter registration effort and a study on lowering drug costs, and donated to more than two dozen Democratic state legislative campaigns in the last five years.
The couple's comings and goings used to pass mostly unnoticed. Now, they make the front pages of papers across the rural state. Television cameras are set up near the main Warm Springs chairlift, and the camera crews are notified by cellphone when Kerry is making his way down the mountain.
Local law enforcement officials have occasionally, and briefly, blocked off streets for the Kerry caravan. With spring break in full bloom, one hotel bumped some guests with reservations in order to house Secret Service agents.
Residents and visitors alike seem to agree, though, that the inconveniences have been minor -- the primary concern being the unnerving vibe that often travels with gun-toting Secret Service agents.
