Letter to the editor: Hoeven looks all but a shoo-in for Senate seat

Talk about it

I was not at all surprised to see former North Dakota Attorney General Heidi Heitkamp decide against running for the U.S. Senate this year against the presumed Republican candidate, Gov. John Hoeven.

In my opinion, Heitkamp’s announcement leaves the North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party without a credible or a viable candidate to make the race against the immensely popular, three-term governor.

I just don’t see Tracy Potter, Kristin Hedger or whoever the Democrats could put up against Hoeven as having what it takes to beat him.

The Democrats won’t let Hoeven run unopposed. They will endorse someone; but that person will largely be a sacrificial lamb against Hoeven.

I’m sure Heitkamp saw the writing on the wall and simply decided that she didn’t want to go through another humiliating defeat at the ballot box at the hands of Hoeven.

Heitkamp lost to Hoeven in the 2000 governor’s race, when North Dakotans went to the polls to elect a replacement for now-former Gov. Ed Schafer. Heitkamp hasn’t held public office since then.

Will Heitkamp run for governor in 2012? I think she will. Additionally, it wouldn’t surprise me to see the Democrats endorse a brother and sister ticket for that particular race in 2012.

It is no surprise that her brother, KFGO Radio personality and former state Sen. Joel Heitkamp’s name has been mentioned more than once as a potential Democratic candidate for governor.

The question is which Heitkamp would head the ticket as the candidate for governor and which Heitkamp would take the No. 2 spot on the ticket as the lieutenant governor candidate?

For now, it looks like Hoeven is all but a shoo-in for the U.S. Senate seat that is being vacated by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.

Clarence F. Olson

Fargo

Tags: opinion, letters, heitkamp, hoeven, senate