A conservative interest group known as Common Sense Issues polled potential North Dakota voters last month to test the waters for potential challengers to North Dakota's Democratic congressional delegation.

The poll was conducted by John McLaughlin and Associates, a GOP polling and strategy firm based in New York and Virginia, which asked 400 potential North Dakota voters on June 17 and 18 who they would support if the U.S. Senate election were to be held that day: Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan or Republican Gov. John Hoeven.

Patrick Davis, the executive director of Common Sense Issues, would not release specific details of that question, but said it was close.

Davis did detail, however, the favorability rankings of some notable North Dakota pols. Pollsters asked potential voters to say whether they had favorable, unfavorable or no opinions about the listed names.

Dorgan, who is up for re-election next year, had a 71 percent favorability ranking, while Hoeven, who hasn't ruled out a potential Senate bid against Dorgan, came out with an 85 percent favorability ranking. Hoeven has said that he will decide whether to run for the Senate by Labor Day.

Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., earned a 60 percent favorability ranking in the poll, and Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., who is up for re-election in 2012, had 68 percent.

Other speculated Republican challengers tested in the poll included former Gov. Ed Schafer, with 73 percent, and Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, with 58 percent.

Two-time House and one-time Senate GOP candidate Duane Sand had a 37 percent favorability ranking, while 33 percent of those polled had no opinion.

Sand filed with the Federal Election Commission in April to establish an exploratory committee for a potential Senate bid next year.

Davis said the poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percent.

Capitol upgrades

The committee rooms in the state Capitol - where lawmakers spend most of their time during their 80-day session - are still getting a facelift.

As part of an ongoing project, 11 committee rooms in all will be retrofitted with new tables for lawmakers, desks for committee clerks and lecterns for those who come to Bismarck to testify.

It's a part of a $200,000 effort that was approved by the 2007 Legislature and could continue over the next two years as part of the $1 million set aside for legislative wing improvements, said Jim Smith, director of the Legislative Council.

Smith said the furniture in the committee rooms hasn't been replaced for more than 30 years and was needed to replace scratched tables and lecterns that were often too narrow to hold large amounts of material for testimony.

The desks come with a price tag of about $800 and the lecterns, which are wider and have a reporter-pleasing flat top for microphones, cost about $450 each.

Five committee rooms also have been outfitted with electronic messaging systems near their entrances to act as calendars, mini weather stations and agendas for the days. Each flat-screen system comes with a price tag of about $5,000.

(Reach reporter Brian Duggan at 223-8482 or brian.duggan@bismarcktribune.com.)