North Dakota GOP gubernatorial campaign enters homestretch

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — After months of rallies in tiny town cafes and fundraisers in big city venues, the Republican candidates for North Dakota governor are making their final push in an intense, expensive and often acrimonious campaign between longtime friends that has focused largely on leadership qualifications as the state's oil revenues decline.

Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem and his GOP rival, multimillionaire and former Microsoft executive Doug Burgum, both are big on swagger but say they will continue to fight for every available vote leading up to Tuesday's primary election.

On Friday, he'll wave to crowds and hand out campaign buttons, bumper stickers and his trademark Tootsie Rolls to parade-goers in the southeastern farming community of Oakes during its annual Irrigation Days festival.

In the past few days, he has made campaign stops in more than a dozen communities and plans many more prior to Tuesday as his bus tour heads east to his base in Fargo.

Stenehjem said on many occasions that North Dakota is "well-positioned" to handle the downturn in oil and farm prices and the state needs an experienced hand at the helm.