Posted on 05/16/2011 7:18:02 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
Freshman Rep. Rick Berg (N.D.) made his Senate campaign official Monday, providing Republicans with a top candidate for retiring Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad’s seat.
“To change Washington, we need to change the Senate,” Berg said in an online video announcement circulated to supporters. “Washington could learn a lot about the way we do things in North Dakota. Unfortunately, President Obama, Harry Reid and Senate Democrats have stopped real reforms. That’s why I’m running to be North Dakota’s Senator, to bring much-needed change to the Senate.”
Republicans view Berg as a top candidate for the open Senate seat in 2012. Although he has only been in the House for several months, he was a state lawmaker in North Dakota for more than 20 years before he defeated longtime Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D) last year.
Democrats didn’t hesitate to attack Berg for seeking higher office so soon into his Congressional career.
“Rick Berg hasn’t even introduced a bill, and he is already asking North Dakotans for a promotion,” Matt Canter, a spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said in a statement. “In fact, Rick Berg’s lone accomplishment was voting for the extreme Republican plan to end Medicare for North Dakota seniors.”
Berg is unlikely to be the only Republican seeking the seat. Public Services Commissioner Brian Kalk has also announced his candidacy for Senate, and several other well-known Republicans in the state were considering a bid. However, some might opt to run for Berg’s House seat instead.
(Excerpt) Read more at rollcall.com ...
It’s official. Look for a a heated primary between Berg and Brian Kalk, as well as many candidates announcing for Berg’s House seat.
Now is the time for Kalk to switch to the House race. The Democrats in ND can only bellyache as we finally take these seats back after over a half-century of their unfortunate dominance.
Kalk has already said he won’t switch races. A number of others are implying that they will run.
http://www.rollcall.com/issues/56_115/North-Dakota-GOP-House-Race-205263-1.html
We’ll see. Might end up with a “Come to Jesus” meeting with Kalk.
I would like to see Kalk as senator to better balance centerist Hoven. Berg and Hoven are too much alike.
With rat prospects so poor maybe it doesn’t matter much if there is a heated R primary.
They have conventions so there might not be a primary. Also, it’s worth noting that the DemocRATS don’t even have a candidate yet, so it’s a likely pickup in any case. Perhaps Kalk is the better choice, as Berg seems to be very Establishment.
Berg won the Republican nomination last cycle. It seems unlikely that he’d lose it two years later.
I doubt Kalk’s announcement for the seat suddenly caused Conrad’s retirement. There were a few reasons why Conrad decided it was time to go voluntarily, part of it being he can see that the GOP is likely to recapture the Senate in 2012, and Conrad has spent the majority of his nearly 26 years in the Senate in the majority and doesn’t want to serve in the minority again. Secondly, as long as Dorgan and Pomeroy were in office, they had a solid bloc of powerful members representing the state. Absent them, Conrad was the odd man out, and with Pomeroy’s defeat, he clearly could see the writing on the wall. The Dems should be considered fortunate that they held all these offices for far longer than they should have from a Republican state.
I’m unfamiliar with ND politics. Is there one candidate that the RNC and/or Karl Rove like? If they’ve got a favorite, I’d go with the other guy.
Berg seems to be the establishment candidate. I haven’t heard anything about Karl Rove getting involved.
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