Cramer Parrots Useless Talking Points on Trade War During Administration Official’s Visit to ND

(BISMARCK, ND) – If North Dakotans hoped Kevin Cramer’s trade town hall with Commerce Secretary Ross would involve a constructive discussion on the impacts of tariffs or any actual understanding of what negative effects have already been felt due to the trade war, they were sorely disappointed. Instead, Ross tactlessly told those in attendance that they should simply “trust Trump” and hang tough – repeating the same clueless sentiment Cramer has been peddling.

Associated Press: Commerce Secretary Tells North Dakota Farmers to Trust Trump

  • Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told North Dakota farm leaders Thursday that they should trust President Donald Trump on trade and tariffs.
  • [Farmers] are nervous about the effects of a long-term dispute.
  • Ross called Trump’s trade plan “a one-time fight that we have to win” and urged the group to “hang in there” against retaliatory tariffs.
  • Agriculture is the No. 1 industry in North Dakota with about 25 percent of the state’s workforce. The state generates 54 commodities and leads the nation in the production of about 10 crops.
  • One of the town hall participants, soybean farmer Matt Gast, said export sales figures released Thursday show that the U.S. has shipped 37 percent fewer soybeans compared to this time a year ago. “We weren’t losing that much market share before the tariffs came into effect,” Gast said. “How long can this go on before we can gain some of this back or we can’t regain it back?”

Read the full article here.

Fargo Forum:

Cramer’s self-imposed deadline of September to stand with North Dakotans against the trade war is fast approaching: he’s got four days left.

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Back to School Reminder: DeVos Family is Bankrolling Cramer’s Campaign

(BISMARCK, ND) – North Dakotans know that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos isn’t right for our public schools. Aside from being wildly unqualified for the position at hand, her radical education agenda doesn’t work for North Dakota. While DeVos has pushed to privatize education and for online charter schools, North Dakotans know that these schools provide a lesser quality of education to students and take money away from much-needed rural school districts.

DeVos’ anti-public education agenda is anti-North Dakota, and that’s why North Dakotans overwhelmingly opposed her nomination. Yet Kevin Cramer has taken $21,600 in campaign contributions from the DeVos family, begging the question: will Cramer stand with North Dakotans against DeVos’ anti-education agenda or with the financiers bankrolling his campaign?

Background:

Forum Editorial:
“DeVos is among the least qualified for the intended job because of her uninformed and ideologically skewed views of public education. Her ignorance was on display during her Senate committee hearing during which she was unable to answer even softball questions about long-standing education policies.
…
The objections [to Devos] crossed party lines, which makes sense in North Dakota where public education occupies a special place in the history and heritage of the state. …

DeVos, on the other hand, has virtually no experience with public schools. Her billionaire status has insulated her and her family from attending public schools, or even acknowledging them. It has been suggested that her familiarity with public education is limited to her having driven by a public school now and again. That might be a generous assessment.”

Williston Herald Editorial:
“DeVos’ confirmation hearing betrayed a stunning lack of preparation about some of the most basic facets of education in the United States.

Given her long-standing support for charter schools, it’s hard to see what benefit DeVos could offer our state as Secretary of Education.”

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ICYMI: Cramer’s Week of Damage-Control

(BISMARCK, ND) – Last week it was missteps and strange comments. This week it’s damage-control mode for Kevin Cramer and his campaign after continually putting himself and his special interests ahead of North Dakotans. See for yourself:

😬MONDAY: A “fact check” shows the NDGOP is on the defense and misleading North Dakotans about Cramer’s health care agenda.

😬TUESDAY: Questions are raised about Cramer’s potential use of a “loophole to skirt the reporting requirements of his assets on his personal financial disclosure.”

😬WEDNESDAY: Cramer and his crew go into full damage control mode on health care. They’re so desperate to hide their disastrous agenda from North Dakotans that they “threatened [constituents] with physical removal” from their ‘set the record straight’ health care conference for fear of being confronted about the harm their plans could cause.

😬THURSDAY: Farmers called out Cramer for failing to stand up for North Dakota – instead choosing to stand shoulder to shoulder with the administration as they pursue a reckless trade war.

😬FRIDAY: Fallout continues from Cramer’s decision to blindly follow the administration down the trade war route.

😬SATURDAY: Cramer campaigns with a crooked businessman. What could go wrong?

NEXT WEEK: 🤯 🤯 🤯

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CROOKED CRAMER’S CHRONICLES – ND FARMERS CALL OUT CRAMER FOR SUPPORTING TRADE WAR – CRAMER FAILS TO ‘SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT’ ON HEALTH CARE

Welcome to Cramer’s Chronicles where, every Friday, we’ll break down the latest and greatest weekly hits about Cramer’s crooked, self-serving, extreme, and gaffe-prone behavior that puts himself and his partisan politics ahead of North Dakotans.

ND FARMERS CALL OUT CRAMER FOR SUPPORTING TRADE WAR. Yesterday, farmers from across North Dakota and the Dem-NPL came together to call on Congressman Cramer to stop blindly following the administration down the trade war route and for failing to stand up for them and the state’s best interests.

  • Wyndmere farmer, state Senator, and Ag Commissioner candidate, Jim Dotzenrod: “It’s a little bothersome to me that the people that have crafted this policy, that have decided to go this route, have no skin in the game. They’re playing poker with somebody else’s money.” 
  • Colfax farmer, Vanessa Kummer: “We all know that trade wars don’t work. And so for Representative Cramer to stand beside Trump and promote harm to North Dakota farmers is just wrong in my opinion.”

HEADLINE: KVRR: Farmers Speak Out Against Rep. Kevin Cramer and His Comments on Trade War

Watch more here.

HANG TOUGH? Meanwhile, Cramer is once again dismissing North Dakotans’ concerns (remember when he accused their fears of the trade war as “hysteria”?). See today’s front page of the Fargo Forum for how Cramer and his cronies are once again belittling the economic impacts his decision to stand with the administration 100 percent of the time are having:

DON’T MISS: “FOR CRAMER, DIFFERING WITH TRUMP MAKES YOU AN ‘ENEMY OF OUR COUNTRY’.” Cramer’s bizarre thinking behind calling Senator Heitkamp an “enemy of our country” for working to help those affected by the trade war is criticized in Mike McFeely’s latest column: “Cramer’s stance is obvious: He’s loyal to Trump above North Dakota. […] With Trump, it’s a different story. Cramer doesn’t see his job as looking out for North Dakotans, but rather standing with the president 100 percent of the time. And if you dare question Trump, you’re ‘an enemy of our own country.’ That’s startling hyperbole, even for an unapologetic Trump fanboy.”

CRAMER FAILS TO ‘SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT’ ON HEALTH CARE. “Cramer campaign on the defensive, as it has been multiple times” and, this week, it was about his disastrous health care record. Cramer and the NDGOP held a ‘set the record straight’ (aka: damage-control) press conference in an attempt to rewrite their history of supporting policies that could spike costs and strip coverage for North Dakotans. Not surprisingly, there were “quite a few misleading claims.”

  • Congressman Kevin Cramer has voted to repeal or undermine the Affordable Care Act over sixty times since taking office. In 2015, he bragged about voting to repeal the law in its entirety. Repealing the law in its entirety would eliminate the protections of people with pre-existing conditions. To now try and claim otherwise at a press conference is election year spin at its worse.
     
  • Cramer has also claimed Graham-Cassidy, a replacement plan, would protect people with pre-existing conditions. That’s not accurate. While it technically didn’t gut the entire thing, consumers could be charged more for care or completely priced out of the insurance market because of pre-existing conditions. Directors of Medicaid across the nation also raised flags about the proposal’s shortfalls.
  • To top it off, Cramer accuses Democrats of using health care as, “a theme to try and ride into this election cycle.” Apparently, he delivered that line without a hint of irony nor a level of self-awareness. Recall, he voted over 60 times to repeal the law. When asked about it, he claimed those were “symbolic” meaning for political motives. Now, after years of running on health care, they control the federal government and they don’t want you to talk about health care because it isn’t politically advantageous for them.

BOTTOM LINE: North Dakotans can’t trust Kevin Cramer with their health care.

HEADLINE: CRAMER’S OFFICE THREATENS CONSTITUENTS. Chris Hagen of the High Plains Reader details how Mary Rennich and several other North Dakotans concerned about their health care were “threatened… with physical removal from the building if they dared say a word” at Cramer’s health care event. See more:

  • If Mary Rennich and her family lost insurance, she would be facing more than $7,500 a month in medical bills.
  • “Being a citizen of North Dakota, I think we should have a voice,” Rennich said. “I don’t think they should be afraid to hear questions and have some answers ready. I think that’s their responsibility… I would like to ask some questions. And I know there are a lot of other families that would like to ask, too, because we’re really scared. We’re very frightened.”

Seems like the damage-control desperately needed from Cramer’s health care agenda is going about as well as expected.

TWEET OF THE WEEK.

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ND Farmers Speak Out Against Cramer’s Trade War

(BISMARCK, ND) – Yesterday, farmers across North Dakota came together to speak out against the trade war and to call on Congressman Cramer to stand up for North Dakota’s interests, rather than blindly standing with the administration on this disastrous policy and dismissing their concerns as “hysteria.”

WATCH WDAY: Jim Dotzenrod: “It’s a little bothersome to me that the people that have crafted this policy, that have decided to go this route, have no skin in the game. They’re playing poker with somebody else’s money. If they were actually seeing the kind of damage, if they were affected personally, I don’t think we’d see this.”

KVRR: Farmers Speak Out Against Rep. Kevin Cramer and His Comments on Trade War

  • While Congressman Cramer discussed the status of U.S. trade in North Dakota, farmers from across North Dakota spoke out against his comments on the trade war.
  • North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner candidate Jim Dotzenrod and several growers spoke at a forum hosted by the North Dakota Democratic–NPL Party.
  • The producers called out Cramer for saying that they should have a “higher pain threshold” when voicing their concerns about trade.

  • Farmers say the tariffs make it harder for them to do their jobs.

  • “We all know that trade wars don’t work. And so for Representative Cramer to stand beside Trump and promote harm to North Dakota farmers is just wrong in my opinion,” said Vanessa Kummer, a farmer from Colfax.
  • Most of these farmers spoke out in support of Senator Heidi Heitkamp, Cramer’s opponent in the upcoming Senate election, and her stance on agriculture issues.

WATCH KVRR:

Forum: Commerce secretary urges North Dakota ag producers to hang tough in trade war

  • There is plenty of nervousness over how the trade war is affecting North Dakota’s farmers as the harvest gets into full swing.

  • The North Dakota Trade Office says two foreign trade missions to the state have been canceled and a higher-than-normal number of visas sought by international buyers hoping to attend this year’s Big Iron Farm Show have been denied by immigration officials.
  • Both are examples of trade “opportunities lost” for North Dakota companies and farmers, said Simon Wilson, executive director of the trade office.
  • In addition, the North Dakota Democratic-NPL party held a counterprotest at a farm about 8 miles south of Fargo in rural Horace.
  • Speakers said they wanted to hold Cramer accountable for his failure to act on the ongoing trade war with China, which has depressed the prices of soybeans and other crops, and halted orders for soybeans that normally ship in high volumes to ports in the Pacific Northwest.
  • Jim Dotzenrod, a Wyndmere farmer running for North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner, said there is a big crop of soybeans coming and the tariffs that have sparked a growing trade war have already depressed soybean prices to $7.33 a bushel, with $9 a bushel being a break-even point for many farmers. “There’s no Pacific Northwest bid” for soybeans, Dotzenrod said. “Those markets have dried up.”
  • Dotzenrod praised Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., while calling on Cramer, who’s trying to unseat Heitkamp, to back away from his unwavering support for President Trump’s trade strategy.

WDAY: “The two, along with Congressman Cramer, hope the state’s farmers have the patience and the faith to wait for some new deals. Now just for a sense of scale here, North Dakota relies on China to buy nearly two-thirds of its soybean crops each year. That’s about a billion and a half dollars worth of beans.”

But Congressman Cramer? He’s still putting himself and his political capital first.

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North Dakotans Can’t Trust Cramer With Their Health Care

(BISMARCK, ND) – Congressman Cramer and his crew made a lot of claims at their damage-control press conference yesterday. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, they further proved that Cramer’s health care agenda is simply not for North Dakota. Not only does Cramer want to undermine protections for people with pre-existing conditions but, by reiterating his support for the Graham-Cassidy health care bill, Cramer is endorsing steep cuts to Medicaid – putting our state’s nursing homes at risk.

It’s all part of Cramer’s disastrous health care agenda that he’s now trying to paper over ahead of Election Day. Check out some of the other false claims Cramer and his cronies made:

CLAIM: Cramer claimed he’s always supported protecting folks with pre-existing conditions and that Graham-Cassidy covered pre-existing conditions.

FACT: PolitiFact: “Under no circumstances do the protections in [Graham-Cassidy] equal the ones Americans have today under the Affordable Care Act. They are less.”

CLAIM: Republicans would protect pre-existing conditions if the ACA was ruled unconstitutional.

FACT: Under both the AHCA and Graham-Cassidy, folks with pre-existing conditions could pay higher premiums than folks without pre-existing conditions.

FACT: Cramer has always wanted to get rid of these protections and sabotage the health care law. As far back as 2013, Cramer was advocating for “dismantl[ing]” the law.

BOTTOM LINE: North Dakotans can’t trust Kevin Cramer with their health care.

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HEADLINE: Cramer’s Office Threatens Constituents

(BISMARCK, ND) – Two headlines we’re sure Cramer was not looking for after his ‘set the record straight’ (read: damage-control) press conference:

High Plains Reader: Cramer’s Office Threatens Constituents
By C.S. Hagen
August 23, 2018

Key Points:

  • Mary Rennich and a handful of North Dakotans only wanted to listen, perhaps ask a question about healthcare if time allowed during a Republican press conference at the North Dakota Farm Bureau on Wednesday. Instead of having their opinions welcomed, current Congressman Kevin Cramer’s campaign manager, Pat Finken, said they were on private property, and threatened Rennich and others with physical removal from the building if they dared say a word.

  • The Republican press conference on Wednesday was in damage control mode, attempting to “set the record straight” on healthcare issues.

  • Cramer has voted 65 times against current healthcare laws, and voted to repeal the ACA without a replacement five times. He also voted to dismantle Medicaid expansion.

  • If the federal lawsuit [to dismantle the ACA] succeeds, insurance companies would be able to deny, drop, or charge more for coverage for more than 317,000 North Dakotans with pre-existing conditions, 47,000 state residents with health insurance through Obamacare, and 7,500 young adults currently enrolled on their parent’s health insurance plans, according to Dakotans for Health.
  • The Graham-Cassidy bill, deeply unpopular [among] Democrats and Republicans including senators John McCain and Susan Collins, will take up to $676 million away from Medicaid. Premiums would skyrocket, could raise costs for seniors slapping them with an age tax.
  • More than 150 patient groups, physicians, and hospitals, including American Medical Association, American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association, and others, say that repealing ACA would have devastating effects on insurance markets and the economy.
  • Partial repeal of the ACA or eliminating Medicaid expansion would be “catastrophic,” forcing 32 million Americans from their insurance plans by 2026, according to the Public Health Scholars and the American Public Health Association. Additionally, before the ACA protections, discrimination against those with pre-existing conditions, age rating, and annual and lifetime caps were out of reach for many older adults.
  • If Mary Rennich and her family lost insurance, she would be facing more than $7,500 a month in medical bills. “Being a citizen of North Dakota, I think we should have a voice,” Rennich said. “I don’t think they should be afraid to hear questions and have some answers ready. I think that’s their responsibility… I would like to ask some questions. And I know there are a lot of other families that would like to ask, too, because we’re really scared. We’re very frightened.”

Read the full article here.

NDxPlains: Misleading Claims at “Set the Record Straight” Press Conference
By Tyler Axness
August 23, 2018

Key Points:

  • Yesterday NDGOP candidates and officials attempted to “set the record straight” on their actions regarding health care. The attempt took place at a press conference in Bismarck. Reading the reports from journalists in attendance, there were quite a few misleading claims made by Kevin Cramer, Kelly Armstrong, Wayne Stenehjem, and Jon Godfread. In other words, they weren’t exactly shooting “straight” in their statements.
  • Congressman Kevin Cramer has voted to repeal or undermine the Affordable Care Act over sixty times since taking office. In 2015, he bragged about voting to repeal the law in its entirety. Repealing the law in its entirety would eliminate the protections of people with pre-existing conditions. To now try and claim otherwise at a press conference is election year spin at its worse.
  • Cramer has also claimed Graham-Cassidy, a replacement plan, would protect people with pre-existing conditions. That’s not accurate. While it technically didn’t gut the entire thing, consumers could be charged more for care or completely priced out of the insurance market because of pre-existing conditions. Directors of Medicaid across the nation also raised flags about the proposal’s shortfalls. 
  • To top it off, Cramer accuses Democrats of using health care as, “a theme to try and ride into this election cycle.” Apparently, he delivered that line without a hint of irony nor a level of self-awareness. Recall, he voted over 60 times to repeal the law. When asked about it, he claimed those were “symbolic” meaning for political motives. Now, after years of running on health care, they control the federal government and they don’t want you to talk about health care because it isn’t politically advantageous for them.

Read the full article here.

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TICK TOCK: Cramer Running Out of Time to Stand with ND Against Trade War

(BISMARCK, ND) – Cramer may be trying to rewrite his history before Election Day, but don’t forget: Cramer has blindly supported this trade war from the beginning, choosing to put his political capital first, even if he harms North Dakotans in the process.

“Now, Cramer is in damage control and is attempting to convince North Dakotans that he’s on their side by hosting a trade town hall with administration officials – but North Dakotans will see this for what it truly is: another political stunt ahead of Election Day,” said Courtney Rice, Press Secretary for the North Dakota Democratic-NPL.

When Congressman Cramer created his self-imposed deadline to stand with North Dakotans against the devastating effects of the trade war, it was hard to take him seriously. After all, he’s been recklessly supporting the since the beginning. That’s why – with only eight days remaining until his pledge to finally put his constituents first – North Dakotans aren’t holding their breath for his help.

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ICYMI: Schneider Takes on ND GOP Attacks on Health Care Coverage

The Dem-NPL candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives calls out “reckless” Republican plan to strip away protections and end Medicaid expansion

(FARGO, ND) — North Dakota Democratic-NPL nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives Mac Schneider hit back at ND GOP officials after a joint press conference this morning where the party doubled down on their support for a lawsuit that seeks to undo protections for North Dakotans with pre-existing conditions and the state’s bipartisan decision to expand Medicaid.

On KFGO, Schneider explained how a Texas lawsuit, backed by his opponent Kelly Armstrong, stands to harm North Dakotans by stripping away protections for people with pre-existing conditions, ending the state’s bipartisan Medicaid expansion, and taking away the option for young people to stay on their parents’ insurance until they are 26.

Listen: Mac Schneider on NDGOP’s efforts to get rid of ACA and protections for pre-existing conditions

Mac Schneider, former North Dakota Senate Minority Leader and candidate for Congress, reacts to ND Republican Party efforts to eliminate the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its protections. Specifically, he calls the lawsuit that the state of North Dakota has joined, thanks to Republican Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem and party loyalists, to overturn the ACA “reckless.” Not only is it a threat to pre-existing conditions protections, Schneider explains, but the ” lawsuit is a threat to those individuals who get coverage through Medicaid, through the exchanges, and on their parents’ insurance.”

Schneider calls out congressional Republicans for not offering an alternative plan or one to fix the current health care model. “There is no plan for what comes next,” he says. “If there were a workable plan to protect individuals with pre-existing conditions, the majority party in Congress would have passed it by now.”

Cramer and Ross In Sync With Each Other, But Out of Step with North Dakota on Trade War

(BISMARCK, ND) – Ahead of U.S. Secretary of Commerce Ross’s visit to North Dakota tomorrow, a brief reminder that Ross isn’t concerned about the financial hit North Dakota farmers, producers, and manufacturers are taking due to the trade war. In fact, he’s belittled and downplayed the harm it’s causing North Dakotans – just like Kevin Cramer.

Ross: “So I don’t think there’s really a lot for anybody to complain about.”
Cramer: Folks don’t have “a very high pain threshold.”

Ross: “There is obviously going to be some pulling and tugging as we try to deal with very serious problems […] There will be some hiccups along the way.”
Cramer: Agreed with radio host Eugene Graner’s analogy of the trade war that “you know, you got to crack a few eggs to make an omelet, nobody said it’d be easy.”

Ross: “Anyone who thinks the economy is being wrecked doesn’t know what they’re talking about.”
Cramer: Dismissed farmers’ concerns over the trade war as “hysteria.”

Ross: “You can’t make progress without taking a little bit of risk.”
Cramer: “Some people are saying we need to get out of this trade war. There’s only one thing to do in a trade war and that is win it.”

No wonder he’s flying in to help Cramer ‘save face’ on the trade war – they’ve both been cheerleading it all along.

But why? For Cramer, it’s blind loyalty to the administration, even when it goes against North Dakota’s best interests, in the hopes of gaining a political promotion. For Ross, it’s personal financial gain. Birds of a feather…

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Cramer’s D.C. Bosses Still Trying to Destroy Health Care Law – Will Cramer Kowtow or Finally Stand Up for ND?

(BISMARCK, ND) – Once again, the administration is threatening the health care law that guarantees coverage for pre-existing conditions, this time saying that it’s “going to be gone pretty soon.” Kevin Cramer and his D.C. allies have spent years trying to jeopardize health care for thousands of North Dakotans – and they’re not giving up anytime soon.

Already Kevin Cramer has voted to repeal or undermine the health care law 65 times and is on record supporting plans that could increase premiums, impose an ‘age tax,’ and strip coverage. Not only that, but he supports the ill-advised lawsuit that could jeopardize coverage for North Dakotans with pre-existing conditions.

“It’s time for Kevin Cramer to stand with North Dakotans against his political bosses’ attempts to spike costs and strip coverage for the thousands of North Dakotans who rely on affordable, accessible health care,” said Courtney Rice, Press Secretary for the North Dakota Democratic-NPL. “Anything less is an abdication of his responsibility but, time and again, Cramer has chosen to stand with D.C. insiders like Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan rather than North Dakotans with pre-existing conditions like cancer, asthma, or diabetes.”

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ICYMI: Career Opportunist Kevin Cramer

(BISMARCK, ND) – Mike McFeely lays Kevin Cramer’s “political opportunism” to bare and warns that voters don’t want someone who is simply looking to “go from one political job to the next” – something that “should make Cramer nervous.”

  • There might be a lesson for Cramer in Pawlenty’s stunning and decisive defeat to grinder Jeff Johnson in last week’s Minnesota primary election: Opportunism isn’t a good political strategy.
  • Cramer, by his admission, was a reluctant entrant into the race against incumbent Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, sweet-talked into running by President Donald Trump and billionaire oilman Harold Hamm when Republicans could find no other credible candidates.
  • Cramer has yet to cut his own trail, instead preferring to attack Heitkamp and loudly proclaim he’s a willing vessel of Trump. Cramer seems convinced he’ll win because he’s a Trump-worshipping Republican in a state that strongly favors the president. There’s been no talk of whatever Cramer believes he’s accomplished legislatively in the House and no roadmap to what he envisions if elected to the Senate, other than to support Trump’s agenda.
  • It looks for all the world like Cramer is running because the pieces were in place to get a better job, even if he wasn’t convinced he wanted it in the first place. Opportunism.
  • Cramer has always been the guy to go from one political job to the next, either appointed or elected, so seeking a promotion isn’t unusual for him. The difference this time is that he finds himself in a competitive race and his inability to articulate exactly why he wants the job — other than to back Trump 100 percent — is telling.
  • Minnesotans saw Pawlenty’s limp run at governor as opportunism and it was fatal. If North Dakotans see Cramer’s Senate run the same way, it might be just as costly.

Read the full article here.

More on Cramer’s political opportunism:

Politico: “Paying family with campaign funds could dog Cramer in Senate bid.”

KFYR: HEADLINE: Rep. Kevin Cramer’s campaign fund use comes into question

High Plains Reader: “Hamm and his net worth of $19.5 billion became the decision maker for Cramer accepting Hamm as his national finance chairman.

WDAY: “[Cramer] didn’t want to risk losing his seat in the House… It was a call from oil tycoon Harold Hamm, whose net worth is $18 billion, that finally tipped the scales” to him running for U.S. Senate. 

Associated Press: As Public Service Commissioner, Cramer was accused of “taking improper campaign contributions from coal mining officials.”

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