Video: House Republican Candidates Brian Kalk And Kevin Cramer Debate

Say Anything ^ | May 17, 2012 | Rob Port

[Clintonfatigued]

North Dakota’s House race saw several debates between the half-dozen candidates pre-convention, but now that the field has been narrowed to two candidates for the primary election I thought it would be useful to have them sit down and engage one another again.

Both Kevin Cramer and Brian Kalk were gracious enough to join me for what was supposed to be 30 minutes of questions and discussions but turned out to be more like an hour. Here’s the result:

For all the rancor that some perceive as surrounding this race, both candidates were very cordial and agreed on most things (as you might expect from two Republicans). They did get in their shots though.

Cramer was sure to mention that he’d voted against a rate increase brought before the Public Service Commission by a power company that wanted it to pay for a wind farm built in Montana mandated by that state’s green energy laws. Cramer said he didn’t think it was right that North Dakotans pay for Montana’s green energy policies. He noted that Kalk voted for the rate increase.

For his part, Kalk was quick to note that unlike Cramer he went through the NDGOP’s state convention and won the party’s endorsement there.

All but one of the questions I asked the candidates were from those submitted by you readers. We got to sixteen of them (the debate was supposed to last a half an hour and went to nearly an hour).

One of the most interesting questions had to do with where the candidates found themselves disagreeing with former president George W. Bush. Cramer said he didn’t like “No Child Left Behind.” Kalk said he disagreed with the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan without a well-defined mission

[Clintonfatigued]

Both candidates seem to be acceptable and similar on the issues of the day. It does appear that Kevin Cramer is better prepared for the campaign.

The primary is in June.

[BlackElk]

Cramer on the basis of the excerpt.