MATTERS AT HAND: Oil impacts likely focus of 2012 ND campaigns
20.05.12
Except for Democrats who found themselves losers in November, North Dakotans probably remember 2010 as about as good as it gets.
We’re likely to remember 2011 as the year that good got the better of us.
Remember 2010? The grass was high. The crop was good. Oil development was just getting started. Money began piling up in the state treasury.
In 2011, fields were waterlogged, cities flooded, and the oil boom showed another side. By the end of the year, the arguments were about whether North Dakota could spend money fast enough to head off the bad side.
That’s likely to be the focus of the state’s politics in 2012, as Democrats seek to reverse their 2010 debacle by making the 2012 election a referendum on the state’s response to development. It’s been too easy going, they’ll argue, not well-planned, not well-managed and with side effects that just aren’t welcome.
Republicans have another referendum in mind, of course. They’ll try to focus on national issues, making President Obama and his policies — especially health care reform — the focus of their campaigns.
Source: Grand Forks Herald