National GOP likes what it sees in Berg

North Dakota has a Republican statehouse, a Republican state senate and almost always backs Republican presidential candidates, but the state’s single House seat has been Democratic since 1992 — and national Republicans haven’t felt like they had a serious chance of winning it back in more than a decade.
State Rep. Rick Berg’s candidacy has changed all that.

“Rick Berg for sure,” Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who leads recruitment for the National Republican Congressional Committee, told POLITICO when pressed about which of his recruits had the most promising future. “He’s just a great candidate.”

McCarthy — along with House Minority Whip Eric Cantor and NRCC chairman Rep. Pete Sessions — called Berg in January to urge him to jump into the race, and McCarthy plans to spend Friday traveling in the state fundraising for him.

It’s the first time since 1998 that the NRCC has taken such an intense interest in North Dakota’s at-large House seat, says Tom Erickson, an NRCC regional press secretary.

Democratic Rep. Earl Pomeroy has held the seat since 1992 and won in 2008 with 62 percent of the vote. He is a powerful fundraiser who is already taking steps to protect himself from the anti-incumbent mood sweeping the country — his campaign raised more than $1.5 million before April 1 and started spending money on TV ads this spring.

But Republicans see him as seriously vulnerable. “As long as we don’t screw up, we have this seat,” a Republican operative working on the race told POLITICO. “And I’m very cautious about saying something like that.”

Berg is a state legislator and businessman who drives his pickup truck around the state and talks to voters with an accent that sounds like North Dakota: His is a “grass-roots” campaign, he says, pronouncing the word so it rhymes with “puts.”

Top national Republicans noticed his authenticity. “You can’t teach someone to be genuine,” Erickson says of Berg.

Pomeroy’s campaign counters that Berg has a long track record of supporting big business during his 26 years in the state House and that he’ll choose business over regular North Dakotans. “Earl has a well-earned reputation as an independent guy, and he’s effective and he knows how to get things done,” Pomeroy spokesman Brenden Timpe said. “It’s going to be a choice between his independence and effectiveness and a candidate that with any look at his 26-year record in the Legislature clearly sides with big business interest and corporate interests.”

Pomeroy took a blow when Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan, a longtime Pomeroy ally, decided to retire —a move that helped prompt popular Republican Gov. John Hoeven to run for the Senate seat, likely boosting Berg.

“I knew at that point that John Hoeven would run, and John Hoeven and myself have worked very close together in again trying to encourage private sector jobs, encourage small business here in North Dakota. So I saw it as a real opportunity that a difference could be made,” Berg told POLITICO on Thursday.

Berg has also impressed Republicans with his fundraising: After he swept the state’s Republican convention in March, Berg says, he got a call from the NRCC with a demand.

“They said, ‘You know, we like your poll numbers, we like the fact that you won the convention by 2 to 1, now you need to prove to us that you can raise some money,’” Berg recalled. “I said, ‘well, what do you mean?’ And they said, ‘we want you to raise $100,000 in the next week.’”

Berg pulled in more than $330,000 in 10 days, a feat that has the NRCC labeling him as a “phenomenal fundraiser” and praising his work ethic.

“I think he has called everybody in the state at least four times,” Erickson said.

After that, Berg quickly joined the NRCC’s Young Guns program. He raised $550,000 in the second quarter of 2010 and has raised $1.1 million so far this cycle.

Pomeroy’s vote in favor of health care reform is likely to become a top issue in the race — especially because it was key to passing the bill. When Pomeroy told the House Democratic Caucus of his choice in a closed-door meeting in November, just days before the law first passed the House, his announcement was greeted with cheers.

That’s an anecdote that’s been well-circulated in North Dakota — and Berg is trying to capitalize on it. “Individuals that I talk to are concerned that they’re going to have to pay a tax if they don’t have health insurance,” he said. “And the policy people I talk to are concerned that long term … that this whole health care reform has done nothing to lower the cost of health care.”

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