The North Dakota electorate identifies Republican (43%) over Democratic (32%), yet the State has an entirely Democratic Congressional delegation (Pomeroy, Conrad, Dorgan). Incumbent Democratic Congressman Earl Pomeroy holds a slight lead over his opponent, Republican State Senator Rick Berg, in the campaign's most recent internal poll, released yesterday. This is a seat we could lose or hold; hold is better.
As the few who have read my recent diary know, I'm in North Dakota for four weeks working as a campaign volunteer for Tracy Potter, the Dems' US Senate Candidate; but the Pomeroy race is where the attention and real action is here, because both candidates have money to spend. Pomeroy and Berg have flooded the airwaves with attack ads these past two weeks -- one can't turn on television here without seeing them.
Berg made the unfathomable mistake of calling for drilling for oil in the State's beautiful Theodore Roosevelt National Park in the western part of the State. And, questioned by the media, he re-iterated the call. It's hard to imagine what he could be thinking, but now he claims that he didn't really want oil rigs in the park itself -- rather, he wants the rigs just outside the park, drilling horizontally to get the oil beneath the beautiful badlands. Here's Pomeroy's ad addressing the issue:
Berg is running an ad tying Pomeroy to the stimulus (which Berg erroneously claims "bailed out AIG"), the Wall Street bailout, and the health care reform legislation -- all of which Pomeroy supported and North Dakotans don't love. I can't find the ad online for embedding here, but it begins with a clip of a Pomeroy speech in which he asserts his representation of ordinary North Dakotans and then says, "Oh, Really?" and lists the several "offensive" votes asserting that Earl actually represents bankers and corporate interests.
Pomeroy's new poll, done by Garin-Hart-Yang and carrying an MOE of 4.5%, shows Pomeroy with a 46/44 lead over Berg, with 10% undecided. The negative ads seem to have increased the undecided vote from 3% in late July, decreasing both candidates' positive polling (Pomeroy was at 50% in July, Berg, 47%). As you might expect, Rasmussen has had Berg in the lead consistently through the months of the campaign. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/...
This is a tight race. Pomeroy may not be at the top of Kossacks' list of "better Democrats" but he's pretty good all in all given the makeup of his electorate. I think he's worthy of support, his health care vote alone would do that for me. I urge all who are looking for a way to help assure we hold the House to consider putting something into this race. A little money goes a long way in North Dakota. It cost $3 -- yes, $3 to run an ad on MSNBC here. You could buy ten of them for a $30 contribution. Where else do you get that kind of bang for your buck? Not to mention, some progressive support for Earl might help to make him the "better democrat" we all hope for in the next congress.
http://www.actblue.com/...