Port: Doug Burgum is really going to do it

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MINOT, N.D. — Is Gov. Doug Burgum actually running for president?

It’s a question that’s been buzzing in North Dakota’s political circles for a while.

To date, almost all of the media coverage of that potentiality has come from this lowly columnist, who happened to notice, back in March, a few stray social media posts indicating that North Dakota’s governor had made the sort of trip to Iowa that presidential candidates make. Combine that with a few tips from locals in Iowa indicating that they’d been polled about an unnamed candidate with a background almost identical to Burgum’s, and I had a scoop on my hands.

Burgum has demurred on giving a straight answer about all this. Back in March, when I originally broke the news, he declined to comment, saying he was focused on the still ongoing legislative session. More recently — just last week, in fact — Burgum indicated, during an interview on my podcast, that he was at least considering a run.

“We haven’t made any decisions yet about 2024,” he said. “We did have a great time in Iowa.”

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