Making Burritos in Fleischkuekle Country

So you’re asking “What’s up with Gary Emineth?” Me too. HIS story is he’s going into the burrito business and doesn’t have time to be the Republican State Chairman any more. But he has time to campaign for Republican National Chairman. And he’s caught the eye of some (conservative) national media.

The Washington Times reported “With Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele facing a barrage of calls to resign, North Dakota Republican Party Chairman Gary Emineth, a social conservative, told The Washington Times on Friday he is quitting his post to prepare a possible challenge of Mr. Steele after November's midterm elections.”

So which is it, Gary? Burritos or the National Chairmanship? Something doesn’t smell right. Seems to me that Emineth’s chances of being National Republican Chairman would be enhanced if he could claim that his party back home claimed the U.S. Senate and U.S. House seats held by Senator Byron Dorgan and Congressman Earl Pomeroy, if that should come to pass, or at least got close enough to scare the North Dakota Democrats (more likely).

No, my guess is that Emineth got on the wrong side of Rick Berg after Berg’s campaign used a party list prior to his endorsement. Remember this story from the AP:

“Republican U.S. House candidate Rick Berg improperly used a closely guarded e-mail list of GOP supporters to promote himself over GOP rivals in a contest to unseat Democrat Earl Pomeroy, the state party chairman says. Gary Emineth said he was convinced that the state lawmaker's campaign used the list, which is off limits to candidates during party endorsement campaigns. Emineth said e-mails were received by people whose addresses he personally "salted" within the list as a way to spot misuse.”

Berg had to end up firing his campaign manager, who had previously worked for the State GOP and had apparently brought the party’s e-mail list with him to the Berg campaign. Complete with Emineth’s additions (His dog? His cat? His mother-in-law’s second cousin once removed?).

Berg was contrite. It was just days before the state Republican convention when Emineth dumped on him. Likely it was just days AFTER the state Republican convention when Berg told Emineth to take a hike.

Berg’s case is interesting, because the Republican party has a history of rejecting their own State Legislators who seek high office (witness David Nething and Gary Nelson). Of the current crop of Republican state officials (and there are a slug of them), only Wayne Stenehjem and Jack Dalrymple came directly from the Legislature, and Dalrymple was essentially picked by Hoeven, and then ratified by the convention. (Public Service Commissioner Tony Clark once served in the Legislature, but was an official in state government during the Ed Schafer administration before being elected. More on him in a minute.) So it might not have been so surprising to see Emineth dump on Berg right before the convention. He expected Kevin Cramer to be the U.S. House candidate, and thought he might even help Cramer along by involving Berg in a mini-scandal right before the delegates were about to choose.

But Berg fooled them. And now he has his revenge. Don’t underestimate this guy. He built a following in his two decades in the Legislature. He was elected Speaker of the House when he was just in his early 30’s, a position generally reserved for elder statesmen in the majority party. He then served as majority leader, and it was his legislative allies who organized their districts back home to get him the Republican nomination for Congress this year.

With John Hoeven moving into the “superstar” category (a la Dorgan, Conrad and Pomeroy), Berg is now titular head of the party.

So now you’re asking “What’s up with Tony Clark?” Me too. Actually, this one is a bit easier to figure.

First, Clark is a Rick Berg protégé. Rick helped him get elected to the Legislature back in the ‘90’s. Once Rick got rid of Emineth, Clark was his choice for interim party chairman (and giving Rick one more little slap at Clark’s fellow PSC’er Cramer). If things work out the way he and Rick have it figured—a Republican landslide in 2010--Clark’s going to be able to claim some credit for jumping into the breach, and his standing in the party is going to go way up. That’s important, because the GOP has a big bench, and Clark, if he wants to move on, needs to move nearer the head of that bench. He needs to break from the pack, and this is his chance. The pack includes Wayne Stenehjem, Jack Dalrymple, Kevin Cramer, Drew Wrigley, John Warford, Dennis Johnson, Brian Kalk, Adam Hamm, Corey Fong, David Sprynczynatyk, Connie Sprynczynatyk, and perhaps a legislator or two and a businessman or two. Did I leave anyone out? Remind me if I did, please.

So this is Tony Clark’s big move. He’s paying his dues, and he can afford to take a little heat from the Democrats and the media. That will be short-lived. But should Kent Conrad decide to retire in two years, as Byron Dorgan did this year (not likely, but Berg and Clark are gamblers), Clark becomes the odds-on favorite for that nomination. And then there’s the Governor’s office. If Hoeven wins the U.S. Senate seat this year as Berg and Clark expect, Jack Dalrymple gets a two year free ride as Governor, but don’t expect him to go unchallenged in 2012. Somebody on that list, probably more than one of them, will go after him.

Meanwhile, Emineth’s in the burrito kitchen. What’s up with that? This is fleischkuekle country.

Footnote: I got a fundraising letter from Rick this week. I was actually kind of excited about it, because on the envelope were pictures of President Obama, House Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Pomeroy, which made me think “Wow, this Rick Berg guy is a cool dude, to put pictures of three of my favorite politicians on the envelope he sent me. If he’s looking to get on my good side, this envelope is a good start.” Until I opened it and saw what he had to say about three of my favorite politicians on the inside. Problem was, in the letter he called me James, and in the 40 or so years we’ve known each other, he’s never called me James (a few other things, but not James). So I must have ended up on some mailing list that his campaign staff bought, where I’m listed as James. Because we’re kind of friends. It would be like me sending him a letter reading "Dear Richard." We’re both from Hettinger. I said earlier this year he was going to cause me a lot of heartburn on Election Day, because Hettinger has never had a Congressman, and I might be willing to be a little more loyal to my hometown than to my chosen political party. But then Kevin Carvell reminded me I was wrong—Hettinger had a three-term Congressman named Norton back in the early days of the 20th Century. So I’m off the hook. And if I have any extra money to send this year (also not likely), I’ll probably send it to the people on outside of the envelope.