Tag: Heidi Heitkamp

North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple’s retirement puts Sen. Heidi Heitkamp in quite the pickle.

Short version: Gov. Jack Dalrymple, a Republican, will not seek another term (North Dakota is one of the states that elects Governors in Presidential election years). Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat, wants to be governor of North Dakota. This, then, would be a heavy temptation for her.

Two ‘problems,’ however*: one, North Dakota is a heavily Republican state, so she might lose. That will make her 2018 re-election… interesting. Sen. Heitkamp barely won in a squeaker in 2012; she has absolutely no margin whatsoever. But if Heidi Heitkamp wins the gubernatorial election, then the Democrats have an immediate headache: North Dakota passed a law earlier this year that dictates that all Senate vacancies must be filled via special election.  Given that the Democratic bench is as devastated in North Dakota as it is everywhere else in the United States, this effectively means that she’d be replaced with a Republican. Continue reading North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple’s retirement puts Sen. Heidi Heitkamp in quite the pickle.

Steven Chu to leave Department of Energy?

Interesting.

Secretary of Energy Steven Chu may be leaving the post during the next term of the Obama administration. Among those on the list to replace Chu are Ritter; Tom Steyer, a Democrat from California; former North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan; Susan Tierney, a former assistant energy secretary; and Steve Westley, a California businessman, according to The Washington Post.

More at Hot Air, which notes that Dr. Chu has been distinctly subpar as Secretary of Energy ( the man doesn’t understand either politics or finance, which is not unexpected, but also why we don’t normally pick scientists for these positions).  As for a replacement, the answer is obvious: Senator-elect Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. While a Democrat, she’s a strong supporter of both the Keystone pipeline and hydraulic fracking, and frankly what we need now is a Secretary of Energy with some sort of practical background in energy production.  At the very least, we need one who might, perhaps, have a better chance to not actually waste the $30B annual budget that we give Energy every  year.  I think that we’re quite done with having all of these Solyndra-level debacles all of the time, correct? Continue reading Steven Chu to leave Department of Energy?

#rsrh Heidi Heitkamp (D CAND, ND-SEN): not yet ready for prime-time.

There are a number of unkind things that I could say about Ms. Heitkamp’s appearance and manner in this video, but I shall refrain and merely note: this is not really a great way to present your message. From Revealing Politics:

You know, I saw a lot of Democratic candidates and legislators in 2010 hunker down and stolidly ignore questions and inquiries from folks with cameras. And I’d like to note that whichever consultants counseled said candidates and legislators to pursue that strategy should be fired, because as it turned out, so were a lot of the people that the consultants were so counseling. Because – as the above video shows – there’s no way to physically look good while running away.

Via @BenHowe.

Moe Lane

PS: Rick Berg for Senate.