Kevin Cramer is not running against North Dakota Senator Kent Conrad this year.

Which is fine by me. I didn't like the way Cramer came out with his "maybe I will, maybe I won't" stance on running. To me, a candidate against a bureaucrat as entrenched as Kent Conrad is has got to inspire confidence in voters and fire them up. Hemming and hawing about whether or not you'll run doesn't exactly instill a lot of confidence.

Of course, we may still see a Cramer campaign this year. Rep. Earl Pomeroy is up for re-election as well, and that would be a match-up more to Cramer's favor. Still, if Cramer wants to win he needs to show more confidence. And Pomeroy has been doing a fairly good job looking good for his red-state voters. He told party Chairman Howard Dean to shut up, and that rejection of national Democrat liberalism will go a long way with a lot of ND voters. Of course, Pomeroy later backed away from the comment, but either way Pomeroy won't be an easy nut to crack.

So who will run against Conrad? Who knows. As Taking Back ND notes, state Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem is polling well. He'd be an obvious choice, if he's interested in doing it. Regardless, whoever does run needs to come out of the chute at a dead sprint with a lot of energy. Conrad has been in the Senate for over two decades. At this point name recognition alone could carry an election for him in a state as politically apathetic as ND is.

Whoever runs against him needs to get the people's attention.