Posted on 04/03/2006 1:55:13 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
Matt Mechtel still plans to do some farming this summer while he's running for Congress. But he'll have a cell phone and a laptop in his tractor cab, and will rely on its automated guidance system for help in steering.
North Dakota Republicans picked Mechtel, a rural Cass County resident who has never sought political office, on Sunday as their candidate to run against U.S. Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D. Mechtel defeated state Rep. Duane DeKrey, R-Pettibone, by 15 votes, 270 to 255.
(Excerpt) Read more at bismarcktribune.com ...
"Although DeKrey had backing from Republican state lawmakers and ranking officials - Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem gave a seconding speech for DeKrey's nomination - delegates said they were impressed by Mechtel's energy and presence.
DeKrey conceded that Mechtel held a charisma advantage and praised his campaign effort.
"Matt did a much better job of courting the vote. He was much more dynamic and much more upbeat," DeKrey said. "I'm kind of the back room guy that gets the work done. I'm not the guy that's up front, charging everybody up, and he definitely is, and I think that's why he's going to make an excellent candidate." "
Who knows? Maybe Mechtel will be one of those candidates who comes out of nowhere to surprise the experts.
In a heavily Republican state like North Dakota, it remains outrageous that not since 1978 has a Republican won the House seat, and not since 1980 has a Republican won a Senate seat. Unless Mr. Mechtel has big $$ to compete against Earl Pomeroy, this will remain yet another uphill battle.
North Dakota is socially conservative, but it also has a strong history of anti-business sentiment and suspicion of financially powerful institutions. Democrats have successfully tapped into this mindset for years.
ping
Long shot, but who knows? The national party doesn't seem to have much interest in putting money into the state.
Long shot, but who knows? The national party doesn't seem to have much interest in putting money into the state.
You say the same thing for all the purple states (PA, MI, OH, etc) and some Southern states as well.
"You say the same thing for all the purple states (PA, MI, OH, etc) and some Southern states as well."
that's very true, but it's more intense in North Dakota. For many, many years, they supported politians who were nominal Republicans but essentially socialists on economic issues. There was an organization called The Non Partisan League, which helped socialist candidates win Republican primaries.
Like its neighbors in MN which merged with the defunct leftist Farmer-Labor Party, the Non-Partisan League merged with the ND Democrat party in 1956 (it's still technically called the Dem/NPL Party there). The most famous father-son team in ND politics were NPL disciples, but ran in different parties. After Usher Burdick's long career in the House ended in his retirement in 1958 (as a Republican), his son Quentin ran to succeed him as a Democrat the same year, and would go to serve continuously until his death in the Senate in 1992.
Pathetic.
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