Biden will not be at upcoming N.D. Democratic convention

Will Vice President Joe Biden be in Fargo for the North Dakota Democratic-NPL State Convention later this month?

The answer, according to party officials, is a definitive ‘no.’

Meredith Pickett, a spokeswoman for the state Democrats, told the Herald last week and again Wednesday that Biden would not be the keynote speaker, despite some rumors that he would be at the March 25-27 convention.

“We’ve had people asking us about it for a while,” she said. “I don’t really know where they get these things.”

The popular North Dakota political blog Say Anything featured the rumor in a March 10 entry. “Word is that Vice President Joe Biden will be the keynote speaker for the North Dakota Democrat state convention,” wrote Rob Port, who runs the blog.

Pickett said a Tuesday announcement from the party may “put it to rest.” Officials said Democratic activist and author Paul Begala will be the convention’s keynote speaker on March 27.

But the Biden rumors may have been the result of conversations the party did have with the vice president, Pickett said.

“I can tell you that we requested for Joe Biden to come,” she said, adding scheduling conflicts prevented him from making it. “We reach out to a lot of prospective people to come and it just is a matter of working out schedules.”

“We’re very excited to have Paul Begala, who’s also a national figure and will give a very exciting speech.”

Ryan Johnson is a reporter at the Grand Forks (N.D.)

Herald, which is owned by

Forum Communications Co.

Tags: north dakota, news, politics, biden