But I do have some good news, all of those above mentioned Dakota political facts will be apart of the past come January of next Year. Why? Republican candidates in both Dakota's are leading longtime Incumbent Democratic Representatives by respectable margins with just 4.5 months until we reach November.
North Dakota House - Rasmussen.
North Dakota Representative Rick Berg (R) - 52%
US Representative Earl Pomeroy (D) - 43%
South Dakota House - Rasmussen.
South Dakota Representative Kristi Noem (R) - 53%
US Representative Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin (D) - 41%
Just for some political perspective: North Dakota hasn't elected a Republican to the US House since the late 1970's. And South Dakota has a well documented history of electing future Senator's to the US House, not surprising considering their current At-Large District status. If Republicans can capture both of these should be GOP seats - our road to 218 could be a whole lot easier.
Conservatism is going back to its' bastions and dominions this November - both Dakota's included.
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1 comment:
Thanks for calling attention to our races up here in the Hinterland. There are less than a million people in the state, but we still get our 2 Senators and 1 Congressman and we mean to do right by the rest of the country.
It was unfathomable to me why we had three Democrats representing us when I first moved here twelve years ago. I quickly discovered that this is a big Agricultural area – lots of fields and no people tipped me off. Like other heavily subsidized sectors, farmers tend to vote Democrat even if their thinking is largely conservative. Even after leaving the farm, subsequent generations are instilled with the “Democrats are the good guys” thinking.
The other factor that plays in North Dakota is “North Dakota Nice.” While it’s true that these are some of the kindest, most gentle people you’ll ever meet, it also means that they have a tendency to avoid conflict and would rather keep voting for the incumbent than hurt his feelings. (To my fellow North Dakotans who are not conflict avoiders my apologies for generalizing.)
But, things are changing! Our unemployment in ND is the lowest in the country at less than 4%. That’s because Ag has been supplemented with the energy sector – especially coal and oil. Putting aside all the other harmful things that our representatives have done in the past few years, when Sens. Conrad and Dorgan voted (by voting “no” to the Murkowski amendment) to give the EPA unfettered control of our three biggest industries (coal, oil and ag) they made it clear that they care more about the Obama agenda than they care about North Dakota.
But this Nov we will be replacing Senator Dorgan with John Hoeven, who is something like 50 points ahead of his Democratic competitor. We also stand a very good chance of replacing Representative Earl Pomeroy with State Rep Rick Berg. As you mentioned, Berg is 9 points ahead in the polls – something that hasn’t happened in almost forever. By the way, the biggest jump in the numbers for Berg came after Pomeroy ran an ad campaign where he claimed he voted against Cap and Trade. He was allowed to hold out since they had enough votes. We’re conflict adverse, Earl – not stupid.
Sorry for the long commentary, but thanks again for the spotlight on ND!
Melissa
www.twitter.com/dakota_mel
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