Kevin Cramer Not Running Against Rep. Earl Pomeroy

Anyone familiar with this blog knows that my favorite to challenger to Rep. Earl Pomeroy this election season was North Dakota Public Service Commissioner Kevin Cramer. Unfortunately, news has reached me indicating that Cramer won’t be seeking a challenge to Rep. Pomeroy this election season.
I’ve put in a call to Cramer to confirm it, but my source is pretty firm on this. And given the presence of a 2010 campaign website for Cramer for an apparent bid to be re-elected to the PSC I’d say it’s certain.
This saddens me a bit as I think Cramer would have made a fine Representative, and I think he had a shot at beating Pomeroy.
This also makes me want to speculate as to what it portends for other North Dakota races. Particularly the Senate race and whether or not Governor John Hoeven will be running against Senator Byron Dorgan. My guess is that Kevin’s withdrawal, so soon after speculating interest in the race to the media, may tell us all we need to know about whether or not Hoeven is going to run.
That’s speculation on my part, but it wouldn’t surprise me in the least.
With Cramer out of the race the only man still in the running is former University of Mary football coach Paul Schaffner.
Update: A reader emails “Don’t rule out Cramer for Senate if Hoeven says no.”
That’s a really good point.