Republican Kevin Cramer, who made two unsuccessful tries in the 1990s to unseat Democratic Rep. Earl Pomeroy, is considering a third congressional campaign, buoyed by a GOP poll that showed him within striking distance of the incumbent.

Cramer, who is now chairman of the state Public Service Commission, believes concern about health care, energy and government spending may foreshadow a tide of Republican victories next year similar to what carried the GOP to majorities in the U.S. House and Senate in 1994.

The former state Republican party director ran against Pomeroy in 1996 and 1998. Pomeroy got 55 percent of the vote against Cramer in their first contest and 56 percent in the second.

"I have too much experience in politics to be easily persuaded by a poll," Cramer said. "But at the same time, it does illustrate the opportunity that exists."

Pomeroy plans to seek his 10th House term in 2010. Joe Aronson, director of the state Democratic Party, said he did not believe Cramer's public record since his first campaigns against Pomeroy made him any stronger as a potential challenger.

"Every cycle, the Republicans tout the latest and greatest candidate, and the past nine times, the people of North Dakota have chosen Rep. Pomeroy," Aronson said. "We believe they'll do so again."

North Dakota Republicans already have a declared House candidate - Paul Schaffner, a Bismarck insurance agent and former football coach. Schaffner has never run for statewide office. GOP activists will endorse their preferred candidate at the party's March state convention in Grand Forks.

The National Republican Congressional Committee commissioned a poll in late July that matched Pomeroy against two GOP opponents: Cramer and U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley, who plans to step down Friday. Wrigley, who says he is not interested in a House race, said he was not aware of the poll beforehand.

The survey showed Cramer trailing Pomeroy, 46 percent to 42 percent. It said a Republican candidate would be likely to attract more votes from political independents - a crucial voting bloc in North Dakota - and said only one-fourth of those polled believed the country was on the right track.

Republican activists have used separate results from the same poll to attempt to coax Gov. John Hoeven into a Senate race against Democratic incumbent Byron Dorgan, who intends to run for his fourth term in 2010.

Cramer says being North Dakota's lone U.S. representative is not as attractive to him as it once was, and he believes the Republican Party's own problems in Washington means it is "no longer sort of the fresh new alternative" to Democrats.

He said he also does not see the counterparts to "some of those thinkers and charismatic, intellectual conservatives," such as former Reps. Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey, who helped propel the GOP in the 1990s.

Cramer joined the three-member Public Service Commission in August 2003, appointed by Hoeven to succeed Republican Leo Reinbold, who resigned. Cramer was elected to a six-year term on the panel in 2004. He would give up his PSC job if he ran for the House.

The agency regulates gas and electric utilities, pipelines, coal mining and land reclamation, wind tower placements, grain elevators and auctioneers. It has played an important oversight role in North Dakota's energy development.

"I think we've made a real contribution," Cramer said. "I can come to work every day and do something meaningful for the people I work for, every single day."