House Candidate Kevin Cramer To Bypass Convention And Go Straight To The Primary Ballot?

Update: Cramer has announced officially that he’ll be by-passing the NDGOP nominating convention in March. Click here to read his statement.

Traditionally, North Dakota’s partisan candidates are selected at the statewide conventions, but the convention nomination isn’t official.  The official nominee is the winner of the primary election on the June ballot.

In the last election cycle, Rick Berg won the House nomination at the statewide convention in Grand Forks in March, but J.D. Donaghe (who was also campaigned at the statewide convention) gathered signatures to put his name on the primary ballot as well.  Berg ultimately won the nomination, as we know now, but his nomination wasn’t official until those June ballot results were in.

So, technically, a candidate need not win at the state convention or even campaign there in order to win the nomination.  All a candidate has to do is get the most votes on the June primary ballot.

For months now it’s been rumored that Public Service Commissioner Kevin Cramer would, at the very least, push his campaign to the June ballot rather than settling for the outcome at the convention.  Asked about this at a debate among the candidates in Valley City, Cramer said he wasn’t sure if he’d push past the convention or not.  Now, in more recent days, a rumor has circulated in state political circles that Cramer would soon be announcing that he will absolutely be on the primary ballot.

I’ve sent out feelers to Cramer and his campaign and they’re silent on the matter, which indicates to me that something may be up.  The rumors I’ve been told are that Cramer could announce this as early as tomorrow.  According to Cramer’s Twitter feed, he’ll be on the Chris Berg radio show on AM1100 tomorrow morning.  My guess is if he’s making an announcement, he’ll make it then.

If Cramer, whose campaign appears to be the best financed so far, is going to the primary then the convention sort of becomes irrelevant.  He has the fundraising prowess, the name recognition and the political networks to nullify the convention entirely.

I don’t know if Cramer would still participate at the convention or not, but if someone other than Cramer wins at the convention they won’t really have won anything until they beat Cramer on the ballot.

I’ll be honest in saying that I hate the convention process.  I hate the fact that just a few thousand delegates pick the nominee.  I hate the fact that among those delegates usually aren’t a representative sample of Republicans across the state, often being heavily influenced by large contingents of College Republicans.  I hate that the delegate selection process isn’t exactly transparent.

Of course, the primary ballot has problems too.  North Dakota has no voter registration, meaning the primary is essentially open.  All you have to do to vote is be a North Dakota citizen.  Meaning people who aren’t actually Republicans can pick the nominee in the primary.  Which is something that is also hard to understand.  How is it that the nominee of a private organization, the NDGOP, can be picked by a government vote?  Shouldn’t the NDGOP decide how the NDGOP candidates are selected?

Even so, I prefer the ballot to the convention process, and if Cramer does this he deserves a lot of credit for making the move.

Regardless, if the rumors about this announcement are true (and my gut tells me they are), then this is a major development in the House race. It could be a major development in the other races too. If Cramer is going to the primary he’ll guarantee a big turnout. That means it would be worthwhile for Senate candidate Duane Sand and Governor candidate Paul Sorum to push their races to the primary as well (I consider them both to be underdogs to Rick Berg and Jack Dalrymple, respectively).