Tribune Staff and Wire reports | Posted: Monday, September 24, 2007 7:00 pm
|
Gov. John Hoeven
has decided to seek re-election, embarking on a bid to become the
first governor in North Dakota history to be elected to three
four-year terms, according to an aide.
In a statement
Tuesday, Hoeven said one of his senior aides, Don Larson, has taken
a leave of absence to run his re-election campaign. Larson has
served for three years as a communications and policy aide to the
governor.
Hoeven, 50, said
he will make an official re-election announcement later this year.
Larson told the Bismarck Tribune that Hoeven is definitely running
for re-election.
A former
president of the Bank of North Dakota, Hoeven was elected governor
in 2000, defeating Democratic Attorney General Heidi
Heitkamp.
He cruised to
re-election in 2004, defeating former Democratic state Sen. Joe
Satrom, D-Bismarck, with more than 70 percent of the
vote.
Fargo state Sen.
Tim Mathern, a former Democratic Senate floor leader, is the only
Democrat so far to publicly declare that he is considering a bid
for the party's endorsement for governor.
No governor in
North Dakota history has been elected to three four-year terms.
Former Gov. Arthur Link, a Democrat, ran for a third term in 1980,
but lost to Republican Allen Olson.
The only person
to serve 12 years as North Dakota's governor is Democrat William
Guy, who was governor from 1960 to 1972. The governor's term
lengthened from two to four years in 1964.
Hoeven's first
campaign was managed by Carol Olson, who is now director of the
state Department of Human Services. His 2004 re-election bid was
directed by Cory Fong, whom Hoeven later appointed as state tax
commissioner.
