U.S. House challenger Rick Berg said Friday that North Dakota Republicans have "an easy job" in the final days leading up to Nov. 2.
"What we have to do is convince the voters that things are going pretty good in North Dakota because of strong Republican leadership and convince people that things aren't going so well at the national level because of Democratic leadership," he said.
But the opposition -- Democrats who are campaigning to see incumbent Rep. Earl Pomeroy re-elected to a 10th term as North Dakota's lone member of the U.S. House -- has "a bit bigger challenge," Berg said.
"They've got to convince the public that things are bad in North Dakota and that things are good in Washington," he said.
Berg was in Grand Forks on Friday evening for a "Burgers with Berg" campaign rally at the local Republican headquarters along Gateway Drive.
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During a short speech to the crowd of more than 50 supporters and local Republican leaders, Berg outlined several criticisms of the current direction of the country and emphasized his goal of making things in Washington, D.C., a little more like they are in North Dakota.
Berg criticized the $14 trillion national debt, an amount that breaks down to $43,000 for every child born today, he said. He also took aim at federal bailouts and the health care reform legislation passed by Congress earlier this year that he said amounts to a government takeover of health care.
"If you've spent your whole life in government, or you've been in Washington too long and there's a problem, you look for a government solution like a government bailout or a government takeover," he said.
"If you've been in the private sector your whole life, in a challenge, you look for private sector solutions," Berg said. "You look for competition or innovation."
Berg said those two perspectives are a "clear distinction" between himself and Pomeroy because Washington needs more small business owners like himself and less big government politicians.
He was a co-founder of Goldmark, a Fargo-based real estate company that merged into what is now Goldmark Schlossman Commercial Real Estate Services.
"I'm convinced that we can do for our country what we did here in North Dakota," he said. "We can balance our nation's budget, we can get our economy going again and we can get people back to work."
But accomplishing those goals will require going back to the "core principles" that made America great, Berg said, including a reliance on the free market to jump-start the economy and bringing in competition to lower costs, both for business and health care.
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Berg said voters will decide on Election Day if they want to continue the "Washington way" of deficits, bailouts and "failed policy" or move ahead with the "North Dakota way" to balance budgets and create jobs.
"I'm in this race because I think it's time to give North Dakota's congressional seat back to the people, and that's why I'm here," he said.
Johnson reports on local politics. Reach him at (701) 780-1105; (800) 477-6572, ext. 105; or send e-mail to rjohnson@gfherald.com .
