Desperate For Momentum Against Kevin Cramer, Democrats Call In Ed Schultz

It’s pretty clear at this point, less than two months from election day, that Democrats need to light a fire in North Dakota’s House race or else incumbent Kevin Cramer will be elected handily to another term. So far their candidate, George Sinner, is running a listless campaign. Sinner got into the race months too late and his major moves against Cramer to date consist of an accusation of too many missed votes (followed by the revelation that state Senator Sinner himself went on vacation during last year’s legislative session) and claiming legislation he didn’t write or introduce.

To put it mildly, Sinner’s 2014 campaign hasn’t exactly been one for the ages.

So, who can Democrats turn to for some momentum as time runs short? Ed Schultz, it seems.

Yesterday North Dakota Democrats posted a YouTube video of Rep. Kevin Cramer at the Potato Bowl in Grand Forks calling it “weird.” Then, proving once again that Democrats and the hard-left liberal talking heads at MSNBC totally aren’t coordinating or anything, Ed Schultz picked up the video today and called Cramer a “pretender.”

I spoke with some NDGOP officials today, and they were delighted that Schultz was taking an interest in the North Dakota House race. They told me they can’t imagine a better way for Sinner to undermine his posturing as a middle-of-the-road Democrat than to have an MSNBC personality like Schultz acting as a de facto campaign surrogate.

As to the substance of Cramer’s clip, suspicion of the Obama administration’s micromanagement of food is pretty widespread in North Dakota. Senator John Hoeven, for instance, has worked very hard to roll back USDA school lunch regulations. What Cramer was referring to specifically was an op/ed by Michelle Obama in which she criticized Republicans for wanting to allow women on government benefits to purchase potatos with those benefits. While Obama goes on to admit that there’s “nothing wrong with potatos” (as Schultz notes) she wrote for the New York Times that women already get enough potatoes:

Right now, the House of Representatives is considering a bill to override science by mandating that white potatoes be included on the list of foods that women can purchase using WIC dollars. Now, there is nothing wrong with potatoes. The problem is that many women and children already consume enough potatoes and not enough of the nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables they need. That’s why the Institute of Medicine — the nonpartisan, scientific body that advises on the standards for WIC — has said that potatoes should not be part of the WIC program.

Here’s the thing: This isn’t a debate about whether or not women are or are not eating too many potatoes. It’s a question of whether or not women are smart enough to make their own decisions with regard to diet. Also, the First Lady suggests that it’s a terrible thing that local schools be given more flexibility in deciding what goes into school lunches:

Yet some members of the House of Representatives are now threatening to roll back these new standards and lower the quality of food our kids get in school. They want to make it optional, not mandatory, for schools to serve fruits and vegetables to our kids. They also want to allow more sodium and fewer whole grains than recommended into school lunches.

Again, I don’t think Republicans want “more sodium and fewer whole grains” in school lunches. I think Republicans just want school lunch decisions to be made by local school officials.

But the Democrat position seems to be that women and school boards are too dumb to make these decisions for themselves.

In North Dakota, I think a pretty solid majority of people feel the government shouldn’t be telling us what to eat. Which isn’t to say that people here aren’t for eating healthy. Just that we don’t think dietary decisions ought to be made in Washington DC.

Maybe Democrats think that’s weird. And maybe that’s also why they don’t hold a single statewide elected office, and just 26 percent of the seats in the state Legislature. In fact, Democrats haven’t held a majority in either house of the Legislature since 1994, nor has the state had a Democrat as Governor since Sinner’s father’s last year in office in 1992.

If Democrats think calling in their friend Ed Schultz is going to help George Sinner, they clearly still don’t get while they’re in the political wilderness in this state.