DES MOINES, Iowa — North Dakota Governor and GOP presidential hopeful Doug Burgum may be lagging far behind in the national polls, but this long-shot candidate is brimming with confidence.
Still hobbled by a severe Achille’s tendon injury suffered during a pick-up basketball game the day before last month’s pivotal first Republican presidential primary debate in Milwaukee, Burgum says he’s here to stay for the long haul. At least until the first culling contests early next year in the 2024 nomination chase.
“We’re going to be here when the voting starts in Iowa in January and in New Hampshire for sure,” Burgum told The Iowa Star on Wednesday’s edition of “Need to Know with Jeff Angelo” on NewsRadio 1040 WHO in Des Moines.
The candidate was back in the kickoff caucus state on Tuesday and Wednesday for a half dozen campaign stops in five Iowa communities.
It’s the retail politics that matters, Burgum said, not the pundits or the Republican National Committee “clubhouse debate rules.”
“At the end of Iowa and New Hampshire, the first caucus and the first primary, there will be 98 percent of the electoral college votes still available,” he said. “Those two states and the voters in them that spend time coming to the kind of events we had yesterday and today … they’ve met every candidate, they’ve gone to small group meetings, they’ve personally asked them questions.
“These are the folks that are doing the screening interviews for the rest of the country and we should respect this process that voters decide, not others, to do that.”
The voters indeed will decide, but as of Wednesday just 0.5 percent of Republican voters polled nationally back Burgum, according to the latest RealClearPolitics polling average.
Burgum, a billionaire who made his money in the tech and real estate sectors, has self-funded a considerable share of his campaign. A Burgum-backing super PAC, Best of America PAC, is spending more than $4 million in ads to run on Fox Business Network, Fox News Channel, NewsMax, and other cable channels, according to a report by German-owned Politico. The ad campaign rolled out late last month and is targeted to run through Sept. 24, a few days before the second GOP presidential candidate’s debate at the Ronald Reagan Library.
Will Burgum make it to the stage?
RNC rules require candidates to register at least 3 percent in two national polls, or 3 percent in one national poll and 3 percent in two polls from early-nominating states (Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada).
He’s lacking the requisite number in a national poll.
Burgum remains confident his message of energy independence, national security, and energy innovation will resonate with voters and move him up in the polls and on to the next debate stage.
The North Dakota governor talked about his generous gift card promotion that fueled desperately needed individual donations, his “cowboy up” agenda, and the age question in presidential politics in the radio interview.
Listen to the full conversation here.
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Doug Burgum” by Doug Burgum.
