Mike Liffrig's campaign weighed in Thursday on a controversy over coverage of his race in the Fargo newspaper, the Forum.

The squabble is over the Forum's election previews of the state's two congressional races. The Forum quoted University of North Dakota professor Mary Kweit in stories about the U.S. House and Senate races, and after the stories were published it was discovered that she and her husband have donated money to the Democratic candidates in both races.

Regarding the Senate race, Kweit told the Forum that Liffrig's "negative campaigning" against Democrat Byron Dorgan likely wouldn't play well with North Dakotans, and in the House race, she said Republican challenger Duane Sand has had too low a television profile to unseat Democrat Earl Pomeroy.

After the stories ran, Sand's campaign discovered Kweit donated $500 to Pomeroy's campaign, and her husband donated $500 to Dorgan's campaign. Sand blasted the Forum for using Kweit as a supposedly unbiased source, and now Liffrig has joined in, saying it's no surprise that Kweit's analysis was critical of him, "serving to potentially dampen voter support, volunteer activity and financial contributions."

Liffrig said Kweit's comments on his race were damaging because the story had back-and-forth of both sides and then "looked to Professor Kweit to essentially sort it out and give an unbiased view."

"Now we know that the lens through which she viewed the race was jaded," Liffrig's campaign said in a statement Thursday. Liffrig is asking the Forum to apologize and retract Kweit's comments.

In a Wednesday Forum story, Forum Editor Lou Ziegler said had the paper known about Kweit's donation, they would not have used her as a source. In an e-mail response to questions, Ziegler told the Tribune that after learning about the donations, the Forum responded by publishing the Wednesday story about Sand's concerns.

"I certainly feel our story addressed Sand's concerns and clarified the matter," Ziegler said in his e-mail.

Ziegler said they wouldn't use Kweit as a source again.

"While I thought she should have told us about the direct donations, I would have to say that probably most political scientists have personal feelings that fall on one side or the other of the political spectrum. Some no doubt give occasional financial support to a candidate or party. I would have to weigh both the frequency and amount of that support before deciding whether we should quote a particular person."

However, he believes Kweit's analysis of the race was still accurate.

"I would ask the Sand campaign to provide us with the names of any learned political observers who would dispute the conclusions of the two political scientists we quoted," he said.

To which Sand's campaign manager responded with the following statement: "I was hoping this story would go away. But by defending the statements of a source that has been clearly discredited, the Forum is now defending the indefensible. Not only is that irresponsible journalism, it demonstrates the arrogance of the liberal media. Can't they just admit they were wrong and quit piling on?"

Union endorses candidates

The state teachers' union has announced its endorsements for state legislative races. The North Dakota Education Association has previously announced endorsements from the presidency on down to statewide candidates, and went with Democrats for the federal offices (president and Congress), Republicans for the four statewide offices it endorses, and an assortment of Republicans and Democrats for legislative races.

NDEA committees interviewed legislative candidates to decide their preferences. The union endorsed all Democrats in District 8 (northeast Bismarck all the way up to eastern McLean County), all Democrats in District 32 (central to south Bismarck) and two Democrats (Joe Linnertz and Matt Maslowski) and a Republican (Ron Carlisle) in District 30 (south Bismarck).

In Mandan's District 34, the NDEA endorsed Democrats Sid Kadrmas and Charlie Barber and Republican RaeAnn Kelsch.

The NDEA noted that some candidates declined to be interviewed, including Underwood Republican Layton Freborg (of District 8), the powerful chairman of the Senate Education Committee who is often at odds with the union.

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