MINOT, N.D. — For some reason Heidi Heitkamp — despite just one, flukey electoral victory to her name in the last two decades — has been anointed an expert in certain Democratic circles on how to appeal to rural voters. Recently, the erstwhile senator delivered a luncheon speech to a convention of Montana Democrats, and…
Print Column: This Is Why North Dakota Democrats Can’t Win Elections
MINOT, N.D. — Do you know what’s the worst? When some joker puts on an air of intellectual superiority and asks you if you know what the definition of insanity is, as if you’ve never heard that one before. You try not to roll your eyes as they tell you it’s “doing the same thing…
Pro-Obamacare Lawsuit, Filed by North Dakota Democrats as a Campaign Gambit, Smacked Down by Judge
When it’s an election year in North Dakota we know at some point left wing interests will probably file some frivolous lawsuit to manufacture headlines, and that invariably these lawsuits will fail on their merits once the election is over. The most notorious example is from the 2012 cycle when the Dakota Resource Council and…
Print Column: Let’s All Be Thankful Democrats Haven’t Been in Charge of ND Oil Policy
MINOT, N.D.—”The for sale sign is out,” Whiting Petroleum Corp. CEO Brad Holly told the Denver Business Journal recently. “We’re trying to sell all our properties in Colorado.” That’s a pretty big deal, because as it happens Whiting, founded in 1980, is actually headquartered in Colorado where it exists as the state’s largest oil company.…
Some Thoughts After Roy Moore’s Defeat in Alabama
Roy Moore lost in Alabama last night. I’m glad he did. Moore is a despicable human being based on his feelings about homosexuals alone, not to mention the credible accusations of sexual misconduct with teen girls. I’m not glad Alabama had to elect a Democrat to keep Moore out of the Senate, though. That’s going…
Democrats Have Lost Their Minds in Criticism of Tax Reform
My print column today addresses the hyperbolic response Democrats have launched at tax reform legislation which has now passed the House and Senate and is in the process of being reconciled into a final bill for President Donald Trump’s signature. “There is plenty of room for honest criticism of Republican tax reform,” I wrote. “It’s…
“We Need Mouth Breathers From Wisconsin”
I don’t typically watch Saturday Night Live, this but this skit skewering Democrats and their on-going disconnect from political reality was spot on this weekend: The bit about Mark Cuban at the end was the best part, I think. Like all good political humor, this skit is rooted in the truth. Republicans seem to be…
North Dakota Democrats Face Fraction as Upstart Progressives Want a Split
You wouldn’t think it would be possible for North Dakota’s Democratic-Nonpartisan League to become less relevant to governance. The party holds not a single state elected office, while Republicans hold roughly 85 percent of the seats in the Legislature. Yet a faction of progressives want to split the Nonpartisan League from the party and make…
Some North Dakota Progressives Considering Forming a Third Party
The Minot Daily News has an interesting article about a couple of dozen Minot-area progressives coming together to figure out how to be relevant in modern North Dakota politics. Part of the motivation for the meeting is a feeling that local Democrats have given up the fight. “My personal feeling on it is there’s just a…
North Dakota’s Budget Problems Have to Do With Spending Not Tax Cuts
As the state legislature grapples with budget challenges in Bismarck a talking point has emerged from our friends from the left about why those challenges are so large. It’s the tax cuts, they tell us. An example of this is Democrat Party Chairwoman Kylie Oversen who was a very, very far left lawmaker herself until…