Dem
51
GOP
49
Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND) failed to qualify for the debate stage—again—and saw the handwriting on the wall. It said: "Go home." So, he has ended his quest for the presidency, which really never got off the ground. And if he hadn't been passing out $20 gift cards for $1 donations, he wouldn't have even made the first debate. The entire exercise was pointless from the beginning.
Before becoming governor of North Dakota, Burgum founded a software company and eventually sold it to Microsoft for a billion dollars. Rich businessmen always think that because they made a lot of money in some business, they will be hailed as conquering heroes in politics. It happens once in a while (see: Johnson, Sen. Ron) but not that often. Buying a House seat is often doable because House elections normally cost a few million and if you can afford to dump $20 million into the race, you can swamp all your opponents. But for the White House, that usually doesn't work, even if you are very rich, very famous, and even if you have already held elective office (see: Bloomberg, Michael).
Burgum went out with a fine whine. On the way out the door, he said: "The RNC's mission is to win elections. It is not their mission to reduce competition and restrict fresh ideas by 'narrowing the field' months before the Iowa caucuses or the first in the nation New Hampshire primary." Really? So in his view the RNC should allow anyone who wants to be on stage for the debates to be there? What if 50 representatives and 100 state senators think being on stage would give them great name recognition for their next election? Would all 150 of them be allowed there? Doesn't he think the RNC might want to limit the number a bit? Maybe he disagrees that polls and donors should be the criteria for getting on stage, but he didn't suggest any alternatives. Maybe he would have preferred that 10 spots would be auctioned off to the highest bidders, with the bidding starting at $10 million? Somebody back in North Dakota should ask him. And note that he didn't complain about the cutoffs... until he couldn't meet them. He's just an egomaniac and a sore loser. Good riddance.
There is one small matter left to deal with, however, and we've been waiting until this day to deal with it. Recall that we laid claim to one of those $20 gift cards, and then we asked the readership where we should donate the money. The winner, after we worked through the ranked choices, was... the ACLU of North Dakota. To start, we're going to round the donation up to $250. If anyone else has a desire to participate, we will also add any money sent to our PayPal link between now and the end of the year. We know some people don't use Paypal, so you can also send a check made out to Electoral Vote LLC to 1241 S. Bundy Dr. #2 LA CA 90025. The upside here, beyond being a part of the schadenfreude, is that you won't end up on any mailing lists that haunt you until the day you die (and then your descendants after that). As an alternative (which will get you on ACLU's mailing list) is to donate at ACLU North Dakota's Website. (V & Z)