Plain Talk With Rob Port

The North Dakota Republican Party will be holding what will be a very interesting event on April 5. Interesting in the conventional way in that it will be a showcase of (most) of the party's statewide candidates. Interesting also in that there is a divide among Republicans between those who think the party's most ardent activists, the one who fill up the seats at the party's conventions, are increasingly out of touch with not only the larger electorate, but rank-and-file Republican voters as well. I don't know that this convention will be the answer to that debate, but it will be informative. Talking about that issue on this episode of Plain Talk is NDGOP executive director Andrew Nyhus. "Rob, sometimes you make us money," he told me and my co-host Chad Oban, referencing my frequent criticisms of the party. "The checks come in," he claims. He also spoke to rumors that there may be an attempt to set aside rules at the convention to allow U.S. House candidate Rick Becker to seek the convention endorsement. Bec