Cramer Officially Joins North Dakota House Race
| North Dakota Public Service Commission Chairman Kevin Cramer (R) made it official Thursday: he is running for the state’s At Large seat in Congress.
“The greatest threats to North Dakota are policies coming out of Washington, DC. I see it every day, and feel a sense of responsibility to do something about it,” Cramer said in a speech in Fargo, according to prepared remarks. And he previewed some his lines of attack against nine-term Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.), whom Cramer challenged twice, unsucessfully, in the 1990s. “The Pelosi-Pomeroy budget passed last year doubles the national debt within five years,” tieing the congressman to liberal House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). “Earl Pomeroy voted for the $787 billion economic stimulus bill which allowed executives at failed Wall Street companies to collect more than $275 million in bonuses paid by taxpayers and he voted for a $700 billion taxpayer bailout of those same firms while failing to do anything to turn around our economy and create jobs,” he continued. And he called Pomeroy’s vote for the Democrats’ health care overhaul “the straw that broke the camel’s back.” Cramer’s candidacy has generated enthusiasm from the Republican establishment both in North Dakota and the nation’s capitol, but he will not have the GOP field to himself. Bismark insurance salesman and first-time candidate Paul Schaffner has already declared his candidacy and Fargo City Commissioner Dave Piepkorn and North Dakota House Rep. Rick Berg are also considering a run. CQ Politics rates the general election contest Likely Democratic. |