Thread: Election 2010: North Dakota Senate

Election 2010: North Dakota Senate
Monday, December 21, 2009

2010 North Dakota Senate: Hoeven 58%, Dorgan 36%
Incumbent Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan may have a serious problem on his hands if Republicans recruit Governor John Hoeven to run for the U.S. Senate in North Dakota next year.

The first Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 telephone survey of likely voters in North Dakota finds the popular Republican governor leading Dorgan by 22 points – 58% to 36%. Just six percent (6%) are undecided in that senatorial contest.

Part of the challenge for Dorgan is the health care legislation working its way through Congress. Dorgan, along with every Democrat in the Senate, has voted to move the legislation forward and is expected to vote for final approval of the reform later this week. That’s not likely to be well received in North Dakota where just 30% favor the proposed health care reform plan and 64% are opposed.

Opposition to the health care plan is higher in North Dakota than it is nationally.

Eighty-four percent (84%) of those who strongly favor the plan support Dorgan. Eighty-six percent (86%) of those who strongly oppose it back Hoeven.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_ ... ota_senate

December 21st, 2009
ND Sen Poll: Hoeven Trounces Dorgan

Unless you carefully unpack the history of the last 30 years of elections in the Dakotas, it has to strike you as bizarre that the Democrats hold five of the six federal offices in those states (3 of 4 Senators, both Representatives).

That may change next November, according to a new poll by RasmussenReports. Three-term Senator Byron Dorgan trails Governor John Hoeven by a 22 points, 58%-36%.

30% of North Dakotans favor the health care bill, while 64% oppose it. This makes it unlikely that Dorgan's numbers will improve after he casts at least five tiebreaking votes for the bill.

In a DailyKos/R2K poll done at the beginning of the year, Dorgan thumped Hoeven 57%-35%.

Even setting aside questions about methodology and bias, you have to concede that significant movement has occurred. [b]Dorgan has held statewide office since the waning days of the Johnson Administration and was recently one of the most popular senators in the country, so this is a highly significant result.[/b]

Interestingly, Dorgan has weak numbers against perennial candidate Duane Sand. He leads 52%-37%. A win is a win, but these are awfully tepid poll numbers against a candidate who has lost three bids for statewide office in the past decade.

Speculation is that Hoeven isn't particularly interested in going to DC, but Republicans also hold the Lieutenant Governor, State Treasurer, State Auditor, State Insurance Commissioner, Secretary of State, Attorney General, and Tax Commissioner spots, so in theory finding a credible candidate shouldn't be hard.

Call Senator Dorgan and congratulate him on his unemployment in 10 months - 1-202-224-2551!