Heidi Heitkamp Caught Not Standing Up To Obama Again

After a campaign for the US Senate in which she ran long and hard against President Obama and her national party, Heidi Heitkamp isn’t spending a lot of time following through on some of the promises she made.

As the Obama administration moves to downsize America’s nuclear weapons arsenal, Heitkamp (who counted a group of anti-nuclear activists among her biggest campaigns supporters) has remained mostly silent. That despite promising to be an ardent supporter of the nation’s nuclear mission.

On the Keystone pipeline, too, Heitkamp has paid lip service to being a supporter of building the pipeline. Yet, as the Obama administration continues to stall, Heitkamp is AWOL from efforts in the US Senate to pressure the President into approval. Heitkamp’s North Dakota colleague, Senator John Hoeven, sent out a press release today detailing a bipartisan list of Senators urging President Obama to support the Keystone pipeline.

See if you can spot Heitkamp’s name on the list:

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven and a bipartisan group of seven senators Thursday held a colloquy, or discussion, on the U.S. Senate floor to underscore the importance of the Keystone XL pipeline project for the nation.

One by one, both Republicans and Democrats made common cause, urging the Obama Administration to approve the long-delayed project, saying it will create jobs, boost the nation’s economy and help advance the country toward true energy security.

In addition to Hoeven, also participating in the floor discussion were Senators John Cornyn (R-Texas), Mary Landrieu (D-La.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.) sent on a statement of support, which Hoeven read into the record.

Here’s the video of Hoeven’s colloquy with Heitkamp nowhere to be seen.

I’m starting to get the feeling that the whole “I’ll stand up to Barack Obama” thing was just a campaign ruse aimed at pandering to Republican North Dakota voters. Anyone else remember this flyer Heitkamp sent out in the late days of her campaign (click for a larger view)?