ND Democrats Elect New Chairman Because He’s Really Good At Writing Letters To The Editor

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Written By:
Rob Port

Sep 18, 2011
10:19am

Yes, that’s really the criteria they used apparently:

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Democrats on Saturday elected Fargo attorney Greg Hodur as their new chairman, choosing him over former North Dakota Education Association president Max Laird in a rare contest for the job. …

Supporters praised Hodur’s penchant for writing newspaper letters to the editor that are critical of Republicans, and his role in building a Democratic presence in District 41, a south Fargo district represented by the North Dakota House’s GOP majority leader, Al Carlson.

To be fair, the Democrat letter-writing noise machine in this state is something to marvel at. It’s interesting to watch how, out of the blue, dozens of letters will appear in publications all over the state all using the same talking point. It’s like there’s some central committee coordinating these people and telling them what to think or something.

The article mentions Hodur’s organizing efforts too, though. Which would be better criteria than his letter-writing prowess, I guess, if there were some indication that he was actually good at it. Republican Tony Grindberg didn’t face a Democrat challenger in either of his last two elections. Representatives Al Carlson and Bette Grande, also from District 41, didn’t face a challenger last time they were elected either. Granted, Democrats may seen liberal Republican Tony Grindberg as one of their own (why fix what isn’t broken from their perspective?), but Carlson is definitely right-of-center and Grande is very conservative.

Hodur can’t even find candidates in his own district, and he’s supposed to lead Democrats statewide into an election cycle where they’ve got the unpopular Barack Obama at the top of the ticket (the President has just a 37% approval rating here)? And must try to recover from last cycle where they had only one statewide candidate with more than 40% of the vote and three not even able to get 30% of the vote?

If I were a Democrat, I’d not have a lot of confidence.

By the way, here’s proof of why Democrats are anything but democratic:

North Dakota’s Democratic congressional delegation has traditionally taken a lead role in choosing the party chairman. The departures of Dorgan and Pomeroy, and Conrad’s impending retirement, left the field open. Schneider said he could not recall a previous race for the chairmanship.

The out-going chairman cannot remember the last time the party actually elected its own leadership.

All ideology aside, that’s pathetic.